I work in law enforcement/EMS (park ranger). It is absolutely possible to safely restrain someone by the neck, but my department banned us from doing it a few years solely due to the fear of the optics of it resulting in a case like this one. When we went through our academy, we had to practice the restraint, called the prone maximal restraint, which included having it done to us. It's no worse than any other restraining position in regards to safety/comfort. Unfortunately, a lot of people with no background see it and scream "Blood choke! Suffocation!" when it is neither of those things.

Source for it being safe (when done properly): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24237806/

Conclusions: PMR with and without weight force did not result in any changes in CO or other evidence of cardiovascular or hemodynamic compromise.