Jordan Neely was identified as the Black man who died after being strangled in a New York City subway this week. A video of the incident from the Manhattan station showed a passenger choking the 30-year-old.
Freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez told the New York Post, in Spanish, that the straphanger got on to the train after Neely and was on an aggressive rant. The train was northbound F, police and a witness who took the video said.
The video shows that the straphanger, a 24-year-old, pinned down Neely while the Black man threw his arms and legs around.
“He starts to make a speech,” Vazquez said, referring to Neely. “He started screaming in an aggressive manner. He said he had no food, he had no drink, that he was tired and doesn’t care if he goes to jail. He started screaming all these things, took off his jacket, a black jacket that he had, and threw it on the ground.”
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The straphanger, who has not been identified yet, put Neely on the ground in a chokehold for 15 minutes, as per the journalist. The video of the incident is about three and a half minutes. The attacker is blond.
As the train stopped at Broadway-Lafayette Street/Bleeker Street station, Vasquez said the conductor called 911. Police took the attacker into custody. The investigation is ongoing. However, the victim was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital.
As per The New York Daily, Neely has “documented mental health history with the NYPD, had been arrested more than 40 times and was a suspect in a 2021 assault.”
“This was Jordan Neely, a hungry New Yorker choked to death by a grinning Marine who is being celebrated as a hero by NYPD and press. His offense? “Aggressive speech”, throwing his jacket on the ground and asking for food and water,” a Twitter user posted the video of the incident.
“Jordan Neely was a New Yorker. He was a person. When he began to suffer from mental illness the city’s social safety net failed him, as it had failed countless others. When he exhibited signs of his mental illness in public he was murdered on the F train,” a second one tweeted.
