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A December 2017 CNN article by former FBI-agent, James Gagliano, about the death of Daniel Shaver claims:

To those speculating as to why he would have been asked to cross his ankles, this is standard arrest protocol in a high-risk scenario. If a subject is lying prone or kneeling with their ankles crossed, the un-crossing of ankles requires an additional movement prior to any effort to escape or physically confront arresting officers. This provides officers more reaction time.

But asking a subject to crawl forward with crossed ankles is not a standard safe arrest practice or protocol.

None of the arrest and search training documentation I have seen online advocates instructing a subject to crawl at all.

Is asking someone to crawl with crossed ankles a standard arrest practice in the United States?

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BWFC
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    Hello BWFC and welcome to [Skeptics](https://skeptics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1505/39853)! On this site we focus on debunking/verifying notable claims. This question seems to be about the motivation behind a certain action, which is off-topic I'm afraid. – Jordy Dec 14 '17 at 13:37
  • I suspected that this may not be the correct place to ask this question and if you know somewhere better then feel free to move it. I disagree though that I'm asking about motivation. I very specifically ask for a 'tactical reason'. Tactics are developed using, in most cases, testing and experience. For example, the foot crossing technique referenced in the CNN article is explained as causing an additional movement and thus more warning to officers. My question is possibly better phrased as 'why was this tactic developed?' I'll edit to emphasise this. – BWFC Dec 14 '17 at 13:50
  • @BWFC Alternatively, do you have a source that claim the victim was given this order for a specific reason? The [help center](https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/help) explains what questions are on topic here. – Babika Babaka Dec 14 '17 at 14:18
  • @BabikaBabaka, I don't have a source I'm afraid. I agree that this isn't the right place for this question but, to me, it seemed like the best place although not necessarily a good one. As I said, if anybody knows the correct place to ask this, please feel free to move it or point me in the right direction. – BWFC Dec 14 '17 at 14:27
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    The claim made in the CNN article is that it isn't standard protocol. You could reformulate the question by asking if this is/isn't standard protocol or any protocol, thus making it based on a claim. If it turns out to be true then links to guides probably unveil the reasoning behind. If it is false then you can be safe to assume that there is no reason that could be backed up. Proving it negative would require expert opinion or someone going through training material though. – Communisty Dec 14 '17 at 14:56
  • Please clarify in your question - the article stated that asking a subject to crawl towards them ***while demanding legs remain crossed at the ankles*** was problematic, not a general command that they crawl. – PoloHoleSet Dec 14 '17 at 17:31
  • @PoloHoleSet, I don't think it can be determined from the article whether the exact mechanism of crawling was problematic. I don't think 'asking a subject to crawl forward with crossed ankles is not a standard safe arrest' precludes asking them to crawl in any manner not being problematic. – BWFC Dec 14 '17 at 17:56
  • @BWFC - if asking them to crawl, period, was problematic, then the author would not have needed to specify "with crossed ankles," and yet he did. But even if you say you can't rule out that the author might also think asking to crawl, at all, was problematic, there's nothing, at all, to indicate that he felt that it was. Since we only know that he specifically identified crawling with crossed ankles, it's not accurate to claim he said something else you think *might* be possibly extrapolated from that. – PoloHoleSet Dec 14 '17 at 18:03
  • @PoloHoleSet I think you're splitting hairs a little here. I ask whether ordering a subject to crawl is a trained protocol. Even assuming that the only breach of that protocol is ordering Mr Shaver to cross his ankles, my question, relevance to this site aside, is clear. – BWFC Dec 14 '17 at 19:56
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    What makes this a notable claim? You cited the CNN op-ed. Problem is, there's nothing in that article about just crawling, so your question has already diverged from what makes this a notable question. That's why I'm splitting hairs about this. – PoloHoleSet Dec 14 '17 at 21:57

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