Chokehold: Restraint Measure That Kills : Controversial technique suspected in teen-ager’s death in juvenile hall For friends and relatives, the death of Anthony Dion Bowie has been a double trauma.

First, they were stunned and angered by the death, allegedly caused by a chokehold that an officer applied to restrain the 16-year-old during a Dec. 15 scuffle at a county juvenile facility in Downey. Then, Monday afternoon, during Bowie’s funeral at New Life Baptist Church, Vernon Lincoln, 22, was gunned down outside by an unknown assailant, who escaped in an automobile.

The circumstances surrounding Bowie’s death are still ambiguous. The county Probation Department, which oversees juvenile facilities, has promised to undertake a full internal investigation of the incident once an inquiry by the Downey Police Department is completed.

Of great importance in both investigations should be the question of whether any staff member at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall violated the Probation Department’s policy against using chokeholds.

Before the 1980s, bar-arm chokeholds were used frequently by law enforcement officers to disable suspects. An officer would put an arm over the windpipe and then use his free arm to apply greater force.

The chokehold policy caused considerable problems for the Los Angeles Police Department, especially following the deaths of several black suspects.

Comments made at the time by Police Chief Daryl F. Gates further exacerbated the controversy: He implied that the deaths had resulted because arteries in black people did not reopen as fast as they did in “normal” people.

The L.A. Police Department and many other agencies eventually banned the chokehold. But following the videotaped beating of Rodney G. King by police officers in March, 1991, the Los Angeles Police Commission studied and then scuttled a proposal to revive the use of chokeholds as a more humane and efficient technique to subdue aggressive people.

Understandably, law enforcement authorities need a variety of effective options in dealing with uncooperative individuals. But at this point many area police agencies seem to believe that using chokeholds does more harm than good.

If county probation officials discover that department policies were violated in the death of Anthony Dion Bowie, then they should act swiftly to punish those involved.

Such an effort will not bring back this youngster, but it could prevent future needless deaths.