Protesters swarmed New York City on Saturday in the wake of a homeless man’s death and demanded the abolishment of police.
Thirty-year-old Jordan Neely was allegedly choked to death by a Marine veteran on Monday, according to Fox News.
The demonstrators flooded the 63rd Street-Lexington Avenue subway station, and many of them climbed down onto the tracks while chanting “No justice, no peace” and “abolish the police.”
The homeless man died after he was put in a chokehold for several minutes, according to Breitbart News.
Neely had allegedly been acting erratically. According to police, he had a history of mental health problems along with arrests for assault and disorderly conduct.
However, Neely had reportedly not attacked anyone nearby before the incident happened.
According to the Breitbart News article:
The footage shows two other passengers constraining Neely, who was flailing his arms. After Neely stopped moving, the passengers continued to hold him for an additional 50 seconds. During that time one of the men, who looked to be holding Neely’s arms, said the other passenger was “not squeezing no more.”
The young man involved was taken into custody but eventually released. A medical examiner later deemed Neely’s death a homicide.
The Manhattan DA’s office said it will investigate but did not indicate whether it will file charges against the man involved.
Protesters stand on the trains tracks at the Lexington Ave/63rd Street subway station as a train approaches the station during a “Justice for Jordan Neely” protest that began outside the Broadway-Lafayette station on May 06, 2023 in New York City. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Fox News identified the man as 24-year-old Marine veteran and college student Daniel James Penny whose lawyers said he “never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death.”
“When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived,” claimed the attorneys with Raiser & Kenniff.
A march for Neely was apparently held Friday in New York City, according to images shared online:
Additional video footage posted Saturday shows protesters clash with officers. At one point, a man is trying to board a train but is unable to because of the throng of people.
He is then told to “get another train.”
On Friday, Journalist Andy Ngô reported “Comrade Don Curtis, a convicted murderer & violent robber, leads a BLM-style protest for #JordanNeely in NYC.”
Curtis, wearing a black hoodie and cap, said “They days of murdering us and getting away with it are fucking over. If we have to strap up and come out here and just start popping, it’s gonna happen. We’re tired of it,” the man claimed:
“They didn’t learn after George Floyd. They didn’t fucking learn,” another man at the gathering shouts.