Global Courant
Jordan Williams, the 20-year-old man charged with fatally stabbing a subway driver in New York City, will avoid prosecution, city officials said Wednesday.
A grand jury declined to indict Williams on manslaughter and weapons charges related to the June 13 fatal stabbing of 36-year-old Devictor Quedraogo on a Brooklyn J train.
Quedraogo is said to have beaten Williams’ girlfriend and harassed other passengers.
“Our office conducted an impartial and thorough investigation into this tragic case, which included reviewing multiple videos and interviews with all available witnesses, and that evidence was presented fairly to a grand jury,” the Brooklyn District’s office said in a statement. Attorney. “Today, the charges against Jordan Williams were dismissed.”
Williams was arrested earlier this month following the incident, with his lawyer, Jason Goldman, previously saying his client had acted in self-defense.
Jordan Williams.NBC New York
The grand jury seemed to agree.
“Under New York law, a person has the right to use deadly physical force when they reasonably believe it is necessary to use such force to defend themselves or others against threatened use of deadly or unlawful physical force,” it said. OM in his statement.
‘Glad that I can move on with my life’
Addressing the grand jury’s decision on Wednesday, Williams said he had been “afraid in that situation.” NBC New York reported.
“I’m happy that I can go on with my life the way I want to,” he said.
The deadly altercation occurred just after 8 p.m. on June 13 on a northbound J train as it approached Marcy Avenue and Broadway, New York City police said.
Ouedraogo was taken to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital with a stab wound to the chest and was later pronounced dead at the hospital, police said.
That’s what law enforcement sources told me NBC New York that Ouedraogo allegedly harassed people on the train and behaved belligerently and erratically.
A police official told the agency that one of the people he was harassing was Williams’ girlfriend, and a source told NBC New York that Ouedraogo had beaten her. It is not clear what exactly happened in the run-up to the stabbing.
Case drew comparisons to other deadly collisions
Early on, the deadly incident had drawn comparisons to the altercation that resulted in the death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely, a former Michael Jackson impersonator who died in May after a U.S. Navy veteran reportedly put him in a chokehold on a New York City subway.
Jordan Neelie.Courtesy of Mills & Edwards LLP
On the same day Williams’ charges were dropped, the accused in Neely’s death, Daniel Penny, 24, pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter and negligent homicide in Neely’s death.
In the May 1 incident, Neely was reported to have screamed and begged for money when Penny pinned him to the floor of the moving subway with the help of two other passengers and held him in a chokehold for more than three minutes. Neely lost consciousness during the incident and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
A grand jury voted earlier this month to indict Penny on updated charges, with Penny’s Wednesday indictment on the charges lasting just minutes. Penny, who is out on bail, said few words, saying only that he was “not guilty” before leaving the courtroom with his lawyers.
Penny, who served in the Marines for four years and was discharged in 2021, has previously said he acted to protect himself and others from Neely, who reportedly yelled “I’m going to kill you” and said he was “ready” to die” or go to prison for life.
“He was yelling in their faces and making these threats,” Penny said in a video previously released by his lawyers. “I just couldn’t sit still.”
Neely’s relatives and their supporters have said that Neely, who struggled with mental illness and homelessness, cried out for help and was met with violence.
Transit crime in New York City is down nearly 8 percent overall, according to the MTA, which said it was cooperating with investigations into both incidents that drew national attention.
