This has gone on far too long. For decades, officers have been warned that kneeling or sitting on someone’s back while they’re face-down can kill them — and they keep doing it anyway.
At this point, “I didn’t know” is not a mistake, it’s an excuse. And the era for excuses is over. Without serious prosecution and real accountability, nothing will change.
Charles Adair’s death in the Wyandotte County Jail is only the latest example of a deadly tactic law enforcement has been told to stop using. Prosecutors say Wyandotte County Deputy Richard Fatherley knelt on Adair’s back for more than a minute.
Fatherly and other officers know better — or they should. The issue of prone restraint has drawn attention in a number of high profile national and local stories.
We saw it with Eric Garner in New York City in 2014, his dying words — “I can’t breathe” — ignored. We saw it with George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, pinned under an officer’s knee for more than nine minutes. We saw it with CJ Lofton in Wichita in 2021 after being restrained face-down. And now we see it with Charles Adair in Wyandotte County.
The warnings go back decades. A 1995 U.S. Justice Department bulletin told officers to roll people off their stomachs “as soon as the suspect is handcuffed.” It described a “vicious cycle”: body weight on the back restricts breathing, the person struggles for air, officers read the struggle as resistance and push even harder.
A national group of police chiefs raised concerns about prone restraint in 1993. This information has been out there for more than 30 years,but Adair and others keep dying. .
A major Associated Press investigation examined more than 1,000 deaths over the last decade in which police used force other than guns. In at least 740 of those cases, the person was held face-down, often with officers putting their full weight on their back. That’s not a rare tragedy. That’s a pattern.
The disconnect between what officers know and what they do is costing lives. Until there is real accountability — starting with prosecution when people are killed this way — nothing is going to change.
Real action is not complicated:
- Ban prone restraint statewide and enforce it, not just on paper.
- Treat deaths from banned tactics as crimes, with charges that match the harm.
- Tie funding and certification to compliance, so departments that ignore the rules face real consequences.
Charles Adair should be alive. CJ Lofton should be alive. George Floyd should be alive. Eric Garner should be alive. Different names, different cities, but the same basic story: prone restraint, pressure on the back, a struggle for breath, and a system that rushes to explain it away instead of holding anyone accountable.We’ve had the science. We’ve had the warnings. We’ve had the funerals.
How many more lives have to be lost before the system decides that a person’s right to breathe matters more than an officer’s refusal to change? The pattern is undeniable, the warnings unmistakable, and the deaths entirely preventable. Accountability isn’t optional anymore — it’s overdue.