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You’ve probably heard something about this case by now but for those who have not let’s start at the beginning. Monday, a 30-year-old homeless man named Jordan Neely got on a subway train in New York and began shouting. He said he wanted food and he said he didn’t care what happened to him adding that he wasn’t afraid to go to jail. People on the train were afraid of what he was going to do next. Then a 24-year-old former Marine came up behind him and put Neely in a chokehold. Two other people also helped him restrain Neely.
Here’s a report from NBC New York which relies on the eyewitness who shot the video. I can’t post it here because it’s an age restricted video so you’ll have to watch it on YouTube. That report claims the chokehold lasted 15 minutes. There’s a version of the original video which lasts four minutes. In it you can see Neely is still alive and moving two minutes in. One of the bystanders warns them not to choke him too long and one of the men restraining Neely looks at the Marine and says “He’s not squeezing anymore.” Then a few seconds later they release Neely and attempt to revive him and place him on his side so he can breath. We see Neely move once before the clip ends.
Video originally posted to https://t.co/vDzD1x1UI4 on May 1 showing Jordan Neely being held in a chokehold for close to four minutes.
Not 15 minutes.
The video does not show how the incident began.
Once he stopped struggling, he was released.
If you witness a scene like this,… pic.twitter.com/Zpva0XLNZb
Crime in NYC (@CrimeInNYC) May 4, 2023
The eyewitness, whose name is Alberto Vasquez, said he had mixed feelings about what happened:
“None of us who were there thought he was in danger of dying,” Vasquez said. “We thought he just passed out or ran out of air.”
Vazquez said he had mixed feelings about the fatal encounter — particularly since he said Neely had not physically attacked anyone on the train before he was taken down.
