After N.Y. subway chokehold death, protesters call for an arrest

Jordan Neely's NYC subway death by chokehold sparks calls for arrest of rider - The Washington Post

Protesters and lawmakers are calling for the arrest of the man who was captured on video holding Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold on the New York subway this week, after Neely’s death was ruled a homicide by New York’s chief medical examiner.

The video shows Neely in the chokehold for roughly three minutes, but a witness who posted the video wrote on Facebook that the men were in that position “for about 15 minutes while other passengers and the train operator called the police.” Neely was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Residents and critics have demanded that the 24-year-old man face charges after the incident was classified as a homicide Wednesday. Protesters on Wednesday crowded the Broadway-Lafayette subway station where the 30-year-old man was killed to chant, “Justice for Jordan Neely!” Four words were scribbled on a column at the subway stop: “Who killed Jordan Neely?”

I’m at the Broadway-Lafayette station, where a crowd of people is protesting the killing of Jordan Neely on an F train yesterday.— Samantha Max (@samanthaellimax)
pic.twitter.com/A0yp7p4pwQ May 3, 2023

Some Democratic lawmakers in New York have compared the man’s death to a lynching. Others, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), have described Neely’s death as “disgusting.”

“Jordan Neely was murdered,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter.

The 24-year-old man, who has not been publicly identified, was taken in for questioning but released without charges earlier this week, according to police. An NYPD spokesman told The Washington Post on Thursday that the investigation was ongoing and any potential charges would have to come from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“The medical examiner has deemed it a homicide, but we don’t see it officially listed as a homicide on our end just yet,” the police spokesman said. “That would come after conferring with the DA’s office.”

The New York chief medical examiner’s office confirmed to The Post that Neely’s death was a homicide caused by “compression of neck” because of a chokehold.

“This is not a ruling on intent or culpability, which is for the DA and criminal justice system to consider,” a spokesperson said.

A decision on charges against the 24-year-old rider who administered the chokehold would not come until next week at the earliest, according to an individual at the Manhattan district attorney’s office who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

Douglas Cohen, a spokesman for the Manhattan DA’s office, declined to comment Thursday, pointing to an earlier statement about how “this is a solemn and serious matter that ended in the tragic loss of Jordan Neely’s life.”

“As part of our rigorous ongoing investigation, we will review the medical examiner’s report, assess all available video and photo footage, identify and interview as many witnesses as possible, and obtain additional medical records,” Cohen said.

New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) has championed subway safety and lauded a decrease in crime and homelessness in subway stations during his administration. Adams, who told The Post in a statement that “any loss of life is tragic,” told CNN that there were still “so many unknowns” in Neely’s case. After City Comptroller Brad Lander criticized what he deemed to be an act of vigilantism — “ NYC is not Gotham” — the mayor was also asked on CNN whether it was appropriate for subway passengers to take situations into their own hands the way the 24-year-old did with Neely.

“We cannot just blanketly say what a passenger should or should not do in a situation like that,” Adams said.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D), following the killing of Jordan Neely on the subway, asked about whether it's appropriate to take matters into your own hands:— The Recount (@therecount)

“We cannot just blanketly say what a passenger should or should not do in a situation like that.” pic.twitter.com/VvWQmdEWsC May 4, 2023

Shortly after 2 p.m. Monday, Neely entered the F train at the Second Avenue station and began shouting, freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez recounted on Facebook. The passenger said the man then “removed his jacket and aggressively whipped it to the floor” of the train. As the man started shouting, much of the subway car cleared out, Vazquez said.

That’s when a man intervened and grabbed Neely “by the neck and laid him on the floor as he tied him with his legs,” Vazquez wrote. The video, which captures part of the encounter, shows Neely’s eyes are barely open as he’s struggling to break free from the chokehold.

When the man, who has been identified in local media as a Marine Corps veteran, finally releases the chokehold, another passenger is heard off-camera complimenting the 24-year-old on his technique.

“You’ve got a hell of a chokehold, man,” the passenger says to the 24-year-old, according to video.

Police said they responded at the Broadway and East Houston Street station around 2:30 p.m. Monday. Not long after, Neely was pronounced dead.

Lawmakers and public officials, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, have called for charges in the days since the video spread online. But the main question facing Bragg’s office is expected to be whether the 24-year-old’s actions against Neely were justified and if he feared for his life, said Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former Manhattan chief assistant district attorney. A homicide ruling by the medical examiner doesn’t automatically mean that what happened would be classified as murder, Agnifilo said, and the chokehold administered by the man could fall into a gray area between defining the action as physical force and deadly physical force.

“[The DA’s office] doesn’t bring a murder charge unless they know and can prove it without a reasonable doubt. It can often be frustrating for people because they take their time to determine what if any charges should be brought,” she told The Post. “It’s like a car crash — it could be a terrible accident or intentional murder or something in between. The DA’s office is going to do their analysis and see exactly who did what, and once they know if charges are warranted, they will bring them.”

Agnifilo added, “I would tell the politicians to let the prosecutors do their job, don’t rush to judgment and be patient.”

Before his death, Neely had lived a difficult life. His father, Andre Zachery, told the New York Daily News that Neely’s mother was murdered when he was 14. Christie Neely, 36, was strangled by her boyfriend, Shawn Southerland, and found in a suitcase on the side of the road in the Bronx in 2007. More than four years after her death, Jordan Neely’s testimony at Southerland’s murder trial helped lead to a conviction and 30-year prison sentence for the man who killed his mother.

“The relationship had been crazy … a fight every day,” Neely, then 18, testified in 2012, according to NJ.com.

His aunt, Carolyn Neely, told the New York Post that his life was not the same, saying he was depressed and developed mental health issues. Authorities did not confirm the man’s previous record to The Post. A neighbor told local media that one of the ways Jordan Neely coped with the pain was by being a Michael Jackson impersonator, performing the moonwalk and some of the pop icon’s other most notable dance moves on the subway and in Times Square.

“He always made people smile,” Manhattan Borough President Mark D. Levine said of Neely.

I saw Jordan Neely perform his Michael Jackson routine many times on the A train. He always made people smile.— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC)

Our broken mental health system failed him. He deserved help, not to die in a chokehold on the floor of the subway. pic.twitter.com/H9vOKzGTab May 3, 2023

Zachery, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning, acknowledged to the Daily News that he hadn’t seen his son in years. Days after Neely’s death, Zachery couldn’t believe the parallels in how his son and his son’s mother both died in their 30s.

“She got killed by her boyfriend. And now him? By somebody else?” Zachery said. “I don’t know what to say.”