Since Monday, the United States has been discussing a case in the news that took place in Manhattan, New York, in a carriage on the F subway line. An African American man, homeless and in a state of apparent mental illness, died after being attacked by a man who was in the same carriage, who suffocated him by holding his arm around his neck for several minutes.
The victim was thirty years old, his name was Jordan Neely and in the past he had performed on the street as a Michael Jackson impersonator: according to the reconstructions he was screaming when he was attacked. At the moment it is known that he is 24 years old, he is a former soldier of the Navy and was questioned by the police the same evening of the fact before being released. In a video shot by a reporter who happened to be present during the incident and which was leaked online, the attacker is seen holding Neely by the neck for about three minutes, while at least two other men help hold him down until he passes out. (from the accounts of witnesses, however, the violent act lasted more than three minutes).
On Wednesday, the coroner in charge of the case confirmed that Neely’s death was caused by suffocation. However, the attacker has not been arrested and the police have announced that the investigation is still ongoing. The caution with which the investigations are continuing has provoked protests from activists and citizens who demonstrated in a New York subway station on Wednesday to demand that the attacker be charged and that the administration do more to protect and assist the many homeless and vulnerable people who live in the city.
The video that is circulating online shows that both the attacker and the other two men involved are white, while Neely was black. It is a dynamic that recalls other news stories that have become representative of systemic racism in the United States (such as the suffocation of George Floyd by the police that started the protests in May 2020) and which made the case even more most debated and commented on by activists and politicians.
Jordan Neely’s body and some policemen who intervened after the attack (Paul Martinka via AP)
Some witnesses who spoke to police said Neely was hostile towards other passengers before being attacked, others said his behavior did not appear dangerous. The journalist who shot the video of the attack, Juan Alberto Vazquez, he said al New York Times that Neely complained of hunger and thirst and said he didn’t mind spending his life in prison and was ready to die. Vazquez also said that as he filmed the assault he didn’t have the perception that Neely was choking. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the video “deeply disturbing”.