Hogtie Heave Ho – Washington Will Ban High Risk Restraint

► The People Have Spoken - No More Hog-Tying By Police

► Dangerous Practice Retired From Use on Dangerous People

► Have Police Lost An Important Tool?

The Washington state House approved legislation Wednesday banning police from using a controversial restraint known as hog-tying. The suspect in the photo is half-way there.

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Is Hogtying as Bad As It Sounds?

 An online definition of a hogtie is:

 "Tying limbs together" doesn't quite paint the full picture. The hands are bound together behind the suspect's back, their feet are bound together at the ankles and then the knees are bent so that the hands and feet are bound together. "Immobile and helpless" does accurately portray the end result.

Democratic Rep. Sharlett Mena says:

This practice is dehumanizing, and it’s dangerous, and yet hog-tying is still authorized by a small number of jurisdictions in Washington

Hog-Tying Banned Already In Many Places In WA, CA, and OR

Many jurisdictions have already banned the practice but once the Senate receives the bill and sends it to the Governor it will become statewide law. Republican Rep. Gina Mosbrucker who represents Yakima and the 14th district said,

I feel like by this bill passing, for me Madam Speaker, we’re starting to amend that relationship between law enforcement and the community

READ MORE: Ruthless Washington Man Caught Stealing Over $1M from Wells Fargo Bank Customers

The Feds Have Said NO To The Hogtie For Decades

Since 1995, the U.S. Department of Justice has recommended against the practice to avoid asphyxiation deaths in custody. An investigation from the Marshall Project found that 23 people nationwide died as a result of being hogtied by police from 2010 to 2021. One of those cases occurred in Tacoma, Washington.

Despite the risk to suspects, some law enforcement agencies such as the Pierce County Sheriff's Department defended the practice as a tool used to keep officers safe from violent arrestees and to keep some out-of-control suspects from harming themselves.

Yakima Police Find A Modified Solution

Yakima Police Captain Jay Seely says the department has found a modified solution where cuffed suspects aren't placed face-down in the patrol car. They do have their legs tied with the loose end of the restrain shut in the card door to prevent the suspect from kicking about and destroying the inside of the taxpayer-provided police car.