How can the officer be completely innocent seeing that chokeholds are illegal in New York? The man's breathing was definitely restricted. And yet police violate this rule/law often in New York.
Despite being prohibited by the NYPD, chokeholds are still used by police throughout the city. The 1993 ban prohibits officers from applying any pressure to the neck, but a report from the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board found that judges in internal trial proceedings have weakened the definition of a chokehold, narrowing the definition to a hold that restricts breathing.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/05/nyc-police-chokeholds_n_6272000.html