Jordan Neely Court Murder Case Imminent
By Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad
Jordan Neely, entertainer.
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(Editor’s note: Lest we forget, we must continue to discuss the death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man crying out for help, murdered on the train in New York City.)
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Against the background of an increasingly divided America, the trial of the ex-marine Daniel Penny on charges of second-degree murder of the homeless Michael Jackson impersonator Jordan Neely is looming up. The trial is anticipated to last a tense 6 weeks and has aroused strongly potent emotions.
“I want people to remember his strengths and his conquest to greatness and his conquering of fears, I want people to remember that mental health is a serious issue and that it needs tenderness, not spontaneous rage. I want people to remember that Jordan Neely was supremely loved and still is,” stated a relative of Neely. It truly seems that the Neely case should represent a unique opportunity to rationally discuss how we should better relate and respond to the homeless, the mentally distressed, and anyone deemed different just because of their color. We ought to avoid repeating those tragic mistakes.
Unfortunately, the Jordan Neely case threatens to turn into a battlefield where negative rhetoric further strengthens rather than weakens what seems a paranoid, aggressive, and angry society. Such a society sees threats lurking and looming almost everywhere - where none actually exist! People see, hear, and speak evil in the wrong places. According to the latest reports, the jury for this trial is already being chosen. The court case is expected to last about 6 weeks.
For those who are unaware, Jordan Neely was a homeless person known for being a Michael Jackson impersonator who was assaulted and killed by an ex-Marine 24-year-old Daniel Penny while he was travelling on a New York train on May 1st 2023. While on the train Jordan Neely clearly suffered a mental break down where he started shouting how he was hungry, thirsty and homeless, and intended to commit a crime to get a life sentence. It is claimed that he threatened to kill people. Although his words alarmed some passengers, he did not physically attack or even attempt to assault anyone. He just threw some things on the floor.
An ex-marine, Daniel Penny, approached him, threw him on the ground, and held him in chokehold for 6 minutes. {Six minutes feels like an eternity when you are being gripped like that!} Penny was assisted by 2 other passengers. Despite the plea by one passenger to let Neely, go they continued to choke him to death. Not a single witness reported that Neely made physical contact or assaulted anyone.
It is interesting to note the comments by two passengers. They stated, “It was like another day typically in New York. That's what I'm used to seeing. I personally did not feel threatened. I wasn't really worried about what was going on. I'm kind of used to that so I see that all the time.”
What one might presume from this statement is that passengers have witnessed similar scenes but, thankfully, responded in many different ways which avoided such tragic scenarios.
Most of the time people don't walk up to a screaming man and choke him to death!
In Moscow, people often just ignore such threats or screams and wait tell the person calms down or leaves the train. The idea that there was no alternative response other than to go up and choke a person is just plain absurd.
In fact, research indicates that most mentally distressed people don't represent a dangerous threat. They are mainly harmless. But the way the media and the film industries depict mental distress is one where they are viewed as a predominant dangerous threat. Not only does the film industry offer negative stereotypes of mental illness which are highly misleading, but they also glamorize vigilantes as heroes.
It is clear that Neely faced three walls of prejudice and hostility: he was homeless, he was mentally distressed and he was African-American. The degree of hostility against belonging to those groups is staggering.
Only a few weeks ago four homeless passengers were shot dead as they slept in a car in Chicago. It is homeless people who tend to be the victims rather than perpetrators of crime. It is criminal gangs and train staff who torment and torture the homeless rather than vice versa. Some train staff complain the homeless badly smell. So what do the staff do to get rid of the smell? They don't give the person soap or offer them a shower but spray a toxic substance near or on them. But this toxic spray smells so disgusting that it makes the car smell even worse! Such a substance can undermine the health of not only the homeless but other passengers who happen to be travelling on the trains. So who is assaulting whom?
I think that fire fighters who go along switching on their sirens to waken up the homeless, people spraying a toxic substance or a vigilante shooting or choking a homeless person to death represents a far more lethal threat than someone shouting loudly in despair for help!
The executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless declared, “There is simply no reason for Jordan Neely to be dead, so many systems failed Jordan and contributed to his death.”
But whether Jordan Neely will be granted any justice in the coming court case is anyone's guess! Whatever the verdict we need a major radical rethink on how to more effectively respond to people locked in deep despair.
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For further information see: -
“Murder of the Homeless on the Chicago Blue Line: Not Just an Isolated Incident,” by Stephen Wilson and Thomas Hansen, StreetSense, September 9, 2024, Murders of the Homeless on the Chicago Blue Line: Not Just an Isolated Incident!
“We will not Forget Jordan Neely,” by Stephen Wilson, StreetSense, November 27, 2023, WE WILL NOT FORGET JORDAN NEELY! - StreetSense
Note: You can also read many investigative articles by my fellow writers Steven and Jessika which reveal the predicaments the homeless find themselves in while riding on the trains in Chicago. Here are just a couple examples:
Harassing the Poor and Homeless on the Chicago Red Line Trains: Unknown If This Guy Got Fired