Charges dropped against NYC man accused in fatal subway stabbing

Jordan Williams, the 20-year-old man who was accused of fatally stabbing a New York City subway rider, will avoid prosecution, city officials said Wednesday.

A grand jury declined to indict Williams on manslaughter and weapons charges in connection with the June 13 deadly stabbing of Devictor Quedraogo, 36, on a Brooklyn J train.

Quedraogo was alleged to have punched Williams' girlfriend and harassed other passengers.

“Our office conducted an impartial and thorough investigation of this tragic case, which included review of multiple videos and interviews with all available witnesses, and that evidence was fairly presented to a grand jury," a statement from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office said. "Today, the charges against Jordan Williams have been dismissed."

Williams was arrested following the incident earlier this month, with his attorney, Jason Goldman, previously saying that his client had acted in self-defense.

The grand jury appeared to agree.

"Under New York law, a person is justified in using deadly physical force when they reasonably believe it is necessary to use such force to defend themselves or others from imminent use of deadly or unlawful physical force," the DA's office said in its statement.

'Happy that I can get on with my life'

Addressing the grand jury's decision on Wednesday, Williams said he had been "scared in that situation," NBC New York reported.

“I’m happy that I can get on with my life the way I’d like to," he said.

The deadly altercation unfolded just after 8 p.m. on June 13 on a northbound J train as it approached Marcy Avenue and Broadway, New York police had said.

Ouedraogo was taken to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital with a stab wound to the chest and was later pronounced dead at the hospital, police said.

Law enforcement sources had told NBC New York that Ouedraogo had allegedly been harassing people on the train and acting belligerently and erratically.

A police official told the station that one of the people he harassed was Williams' girlfriend, with a source telling NBC New York that Ouedraogo had punched her. It was not clear what exactly unfolded in the lead-up to the stabbing.

Case drew comparisons to other deadly clash

Early on, the deadly incident had drawn comparisons to the altercation resulting in the death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely, a former Michael Jackson impersonator who died in May after a U.S. Marine veteran allegedly put him in a chokehold on a New York City subway train.

The same day that Williams' charges were dropped, the suspect in Neely's death, Daniel Penny, 24, pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in Neely's death.

In the May 1 incident, Neely was alleged to have been shouting and begging for money when Penny pinned him to the floor of the moving subway car with the help of two other passengers and held him in a chokehold for more than three minutes. Neely lost consciousness during the incident and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

A grand jury voted to indict Penny on updated charges earlier this month, with Penny's Wednesday arraignment on the charges lasting just minutes. Penny, who is free on bond, said few words, uttering only that he was "not guilty" before leaving the courtroom with his lawyers.

Penny, who served in the Marines for four years and was discharged in 2021, has previously said he acted to protect himself and others from Neely, who was alleged to have shouted “I’m gonna’ kill you” and said he was “ready to die” or go to jail for life.

“He was yelling in their faces saying these threats,” Penny said in a video previously released by his attorneys. “I just couldn’t sit still.”

Neely’s family members and their supporters have said Neely, who struggled with mental illness and homelessness, was crying out for help and was met with violence.

Transit crime in New York City has been down nearly 8 percent overall, according to the MTA, which said it is cooperating with investigations into both incidents that attracted national attention.