Documents show Las Cruces officer used neck restraint banned in many cities on suspect who died in custody

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- A Las Cruces police officer had a suspect in what police called a "vascular neck restraint" moments before his death over the weekend, according to court documents obtained Monday by ABC-7.

That type of neck restraint is banned by many police departments across the nation, an expert told the Associated Press last year.

The death of 40-year-old Antonio Valenzuela, under investigation by New Mexico State Police, happened outside a north Las Cruces church, near the intersection of Alameda and Three Crosses Avenue early Saturday.

According to the documents, Valenzuela was in the backseat of a pickup truck that was pulled over, at which point he got out of the vehicle and ran away as a pair of officers chased him.

Valenzuela reportedly put up a fight and the officers claim they thought he was reaching for a knife when Officer Christopher Smelser used what is referred to as a “vascular neck restraint” to subdue him, the documents indicated.

State police have also said one of the officers used a Taser on Valenzuela, although that was not reflected in the court documents.

It was unclear why Valenzuela ran, but police said they found a “crystal-like substance” on him. However, the documents did not indicate whether any knife was recovered.

State police had said Valenzuela did have an active warrant for his arrest from New Mexico Probation and Parole, which officers were aware of at the time of the deadly incident.

An exact cause of Valenzuela’s death has not yet been determined, and state police said their investigation into the death continued.

ABC-7 obtained a copy of the Las Cruces Police Department’s use of force policy, but couldn’t find any reference in it to the use of so-called vascular neck restraints.

According to the Associated Press, a vascular neck restraint is a technique in which pressure is put on the carotid artery to cut off blood to the brain in an effort to render a person unconscious.

Dr. Bill Smock, a police surgeon who has investigated strokes and deaths associated with vascular neck restraint use, serves at the Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention in San Diego and is an expert on the topic.

He told the AP that the use of vascular neck restraints has been banned in many cities, except for lethal or deadly force encounters.