Protest for the death of Jordan Neely this Thursday in New York EDUARDO MUNOZ (Portal)
The 24-year-old ex-Marine who killed a Michael Jackson double in a New York City subway car on Monday has been identified as Daniel J. Penny by multiple local media outlets, although authorities have not confirmed his affiliation. The young man, a Long Island resident who served in the Marines for four years through 2021, has not been arrested or charged in connection with the incident, although authorities have determined the murder occurred without thoughtful intent or fault of the author.
Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Jackson impersonator, choked to death when the ex-Marine held him down to appease him after the impersonator, who had been diagnosed with mental disorders, rampaged the car, asking for food and yelling he was ready to die . The victim is black, lived on the streets and had a criminal record for minor offenses such as sneaking onto the subway without a ticket or disturbing public order. The attacker, who is white, was interrogated after the train arrived at the station and released without charge. The event has sparked several street protests and reignited debate over the interface between public safety and mental health, neglecting which is an issue authorities have yet to find a solution to.
Four days later, the fact that no one has been arrested or charged has fueled a controversy that grows fatter by the minute as the specter of racial discrimination looms over the case. Relatives, activists and fellow travelers on the streets of Neely are crying out for justice, although Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg – the same person who indicted Donald Trump on accounting fraud in April – has warned against any haste. His office continues to analyze the incident based on the forensic report that the death was caused by “neck compression”; Viewing video images and interviewing witnesses. According to local media, including the New York Daily News, the ex-Marine is said to have hired an old rival of Bragg’s as a lawyer.
There seems to be no other topic in the local media these days than the sad end of Neely, known for his impersonations of the singer in subway stations and in Times Square, the city’s kilometer zero, where he has been since at least 2009 The astonishment of the majority of public opinion that the man who, with the help of two other travelers, fatally attacked him in the neck for three minutes has not yet been arrested, and criticism of the mayor, Eric Adams, for being lukewarm added. , when condemning the event. Adams asked for prudence because “there are a lot of things we don’t know about what happened in the car.”
New York Governor, also a Democrat, Kathy Hochul was much clearer in demanding accountability. “It’s terrible, that became very clear [la víctima] I wouldn’t hurt anyone. The video of three people holding him to his last breath was, I would say, a very extreme reaction to the danger Neely posed. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) described what happened as a “public execution,” which led to another argument with the mayor. AOC also deplored the media coverage of the event: “Because Jordan was homeless and screaming for food… the killer is protected with passive headlines and no charges.”
Protesters are demanding that the ex-Marine be charged before the Manhattan Attorney’s Office this Thursday. JUSTIN LANE (EFE)
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The car on the F line of the subway where the incident occurred did not yet have surveillance cameras, despite the MTA’s plan for 2022 to have them in the 6,455 in service at a rate of two Cameras to be installed per car, with a very clear goal: to increase security in the underground, a regular scene of violence. Yes, there are cameras, 10,000 in all, in each of the 472 stations on the New York City subway network. Prosecutors are analyzing video taken by a passenger in the carriage to understand how the ex-Marine used the aforementioned immobilisation maneuver, which some police departments have banned as dangerous, while two other passengers held Neely by the arms.
The caution advised by Bragg and Adams is that the video evidence at this point would not support a murder charge, which under New York law requires the perpetrator to show intent to kill. Instead, prosecutors could consider second-degree murder or reckless homicide or involuntary manslaughter a misdemeanor. Prosecutors also need to show that the people who strangled and held Neely had no legal justification for doing so, meaning they did not act reasonably in self-defense.
The victim’s father, Andre Zachery, continues to demand answers from authorities and a perpetrator by name and surname. One of his alleged victims told the Daily News on Thursday that Neely “should have been in rehab” and shouldn’t have been abandoned on the streets. And one of his aunts claimed the young man was never the same after his mother’s murder. Christie Neely died when her son was about 16, strangled to death by her partner. His body was found in a suitcase that had been left on the side of a Bronx highway.
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