N.Y. Governor Claims Homeless Man Was ‘Killed for Being a Passenger’ on Subway
Despite the violent and erratic behavior exhibited by Jordan Neely on a New York subway Monday night that led to a violent and ultimately fatal altercation, Governor Kathy Hochul said that the man was simply “killed for being a passenger on the subway trains.”
“Before we get started answering your questions,” Hochul told reporters on Thursday afternoon, “I do want to acknowledge how horrific it was to view a video of Jordan Neely being killed for being a passenger on the subway trains.”
The governor went on to say, “Our hearts go out to his [Neely’s] families. I’m really pleased that the district attorney is looking into this matter.”
Here is Gov. Hochul's full remarks Wednesday on the death of Jordan Neely pic.twitter.com/BV87b3Q1Zz
— Dan Rivoli (@danrivoli) May 4, 2023
Asked by one journalist what the appropriate response should be when “somebody’s acting erratically, [and] threatening people,” Hochul deflected.
“I think it’s a case-by-case situation. This was an unarmed individual who had been on the subway many times, known by many of the regular travelers. And you know, sometimes people have an episode where they’re displaying their feelings in a loud and emotional way, but it became very clear that he was not going to, you know, cause harm to these other people. And the video of three individuals holding him down until the last breath was snuffed out of him. I would say it was a very extreme response.”
On Monday afternoon, Neely — a homeless black man with a history of mental health issues — boarded a northbound F train and began screaming at passengers in an aggressive manner demanding food and water.
According to an eyewitness on the subway train, Neely had made threats to passengers, stating his willingness to “hurt anyone” and saying that he was unbothered by the prospect of returning to jail or being killed. Law enforcement sources have told media outlets that Neely had a lengthy criminal record, including at least 40 arrests for charges ranging from assault to disorderly conduct and fare evasion.
Protesters descended on the subway platform at Broadway-Lafayette station on Wednesday to protest Neely’s death with many blaming it on racism and the city’s handling of homeless people. “There was no empathy on that train car,” Karim Walker, a homeless advocate working with the Urban Justice Center, told the New York Times.
“He did not need to nor did he deserve to die in the manner that he did,” Walker asserted. “That’s what really scares me and that’s what really breaks my heart.”
I’m at the Broadway-Lafayette station, where a crowd of people is protesting the killing of Jordan Neely on an F train yesterday. pic.twitter.com/A0yp7p4pwQ
— Samantha Max (@samanthaellimax) May 3, 2023
Neely’s manner of death has been a ruled a homicide, the New York Medical Examiner’s Office told National Review. But District Attorney Alvin Bragg has not yet made a charging decision.
That didn’t stop Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from declaring “Jordan Neely was murdered.”
“But [because] Jordan was houseless and crying for food in a time when the city is raising rents and stripping services to militarize itself while many in power demonize the poor, the murderer gets protected [with] passive headlines [and] no charges. It’s disgusting,” she wrote on social media.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, however, struck a different cord in responding to the controversy, suggesting it was “irresponsible” to determine fault before all the facts are known.
“Any loss of life is tragic. There’s a lot we don’t know about what happened here, so I’m going to refrain from commenting further,” Adams said.
“However, we do know there were serious mental health issues in play here which is why our administration has made record investment in providing care to those who ended it and getting people off the streets and subways, and out of dangerous situations.”
Ocasio-Cortez responded by calling Adams’s comments a “new low” in a Twitter post.
“This honestly feels like a new low: not being able to clearly condemn a public murder because the victim was of a social status some would deem ‘too low’ to care about,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “The last sentence is especially rich from an admin trying to cut the very services that could have helped him.”
