AP Investigation: In hundreds of deadly police encounters, officers broke multiple safety guidelines

An Associated Press investigation found that police across the U.S. violated well-known guidelines for safely restraining people in hundreds of fatal encounters that didn’t involve a firearm. Police breached those safety warnings not just once or twice, but in three or more ways in roughly 45% of the 1,000 deaths identified by AP over a decade’s time. Most often, officers pinned people facedown in ways that could restrict their breathing or stunned them repeatedly with Tasers. Some officers had little choice but to break guidelines recommended by law enforcement groups and safety experts, known as best practices, to save or protect someone. But many decisions were harder to explain, happening after officers had people handcuffed and controlled.