Global Courant 2023-05-05 06:45:36
The Marine veteran charged Monday in the death of Jordan Neely aboard a subway under Manhattan has reportedly hired former Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s rival to represent him.
Per The New York Posthas hired unnamed veteran Thomas Kenniff, who ran as a Republican nominee against Bragg in the 2021 Manhattan DA race.
Alvin Bragg is likely to press charges against a Navy veteran accused of killing Jordan Neely, right, in the subway by chokehold on May 1, 2023, experts told Fox News Digital. (Alex Kent via Getty/Paul Martinka)
Kenniff eventually lost to Bragg, who became Black Manhattan’s first DA. On the campaign trail, Kenniff criticized Bragg’s soft-on-crime policies.
“Given what I’m saying is a humanitarian crisis unfolding on the streets of New York City, now is not the time when we should be experimenting with new criminal justice policies,” Kenniff told Fox News Digital in 2021.
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“We should at least be exploring or talking about how we’re doubling down on the policies that have worked for the last 30 years… We should be talking about how we’re getting harder on crime, not softer on crime.”
Thomas Kenniff, posing as a candidate for Manhattan DA in April 2021. (REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)
Neely, who is black, reportedly had a mental episode on the F train Monday, screaming and pacing as a Navy veteran tackled him to the ground and put him in a chokehold, according to witnesses and police.
NYPD officers are performing CPR on a 30-year-old man who choked to death on a train in Manhattan on Monday, May 1, 2023 after allegedly threatening belt hangers, police said. (Paul Martinka)
Two other belt hangers helped restrain him, and a video capturing part of the encounter shows Neely, a Michael Jackson impersonator, slowly going limp and then dying.
The city’s coroner determined the manner of death was a homicide caused by compression of the neck.
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The 24-year-old Marine veteran, who appeared to be white, was taken into custody and released without charge. His name has not been made public.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it is investigating.
“As part of our rigorous ongoing investigation, we will review the medical examiner’s report, review all available video and photographic evidence, identify and interview as many witnesses as possible, and obtain additional medical records,” a statement from a spokesman for the district attorney read. . .
If the District Attorney files criminal charges after the Marines vet, it could potentially spark another showdown between Bragg and his former rival.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Bragg and Kennedy’s office for comment.
Sam Dorman, Fox News’ Louis Casiano, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bradford Betz is a Fox News Digital breaking reporter covering crime, political issues and much more.