Global Courant 2023-05-07 11:22:17
Protests have erupted in New York City after Jordan Neely, a man who was homeless, was strangled to death by a Navy veteran. The protesters crowded into a subway station and took to the tracks in solidarity to demand change.
“No Justice No Peace!” protesters can be heard screaming repeatedly in video. “Abolish the police.”
The dozens of protesters gathered at the 63rd Street-Lexington Avenue subway station to protest Neely’s death and can be seen in videos and images jumping on the rails and demanding justice for Neely, Saturday, May 6.
“What are we doing?” a protester is heard shouting into a microphone. “Get up, fight back!”
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The video showed the protesters blocking an oncoming Q train trying to arrive at the subway station.
“You can’t stop a revolution,” you hear others chant. “Daniel Penny has to go.”
A protester argues with subway drivers as he blocks the doors from closing the Lexington Ave/63rd Street subway station during a “Justice for Jordan Neely” protest that began outside Broadway-Lafayette station in New York City on May 6, 2023. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
Eventually, police forced protesters off the tracks, allowing the train to enter the station. However, protesters continued to block the train. A video captured an interaction between a frustrated straphanger who begged police to allow him, and others to get off the train as protesters continued to block the door.
“Take another train,” a protester is heard yelling at the passenger.
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“They’re lynching us here,” says another repeatedly.
The chaos continued as police began forcing people to leave the subway station.
Several protesters became aggressive and began fighting officers, forcing the NYPD to knock several protesters to the ground and make arrests.
The violent clashes continued at street level where protesters blocked an intersection.
A protester is heard screaming as he is arrested, “I can’t breathe,” a nod to George Floyd’s violent arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2022.
According to police and a witness statement, Neely, who was 30 years old and living in a shelter, died after being placed in a chokehold by a 24-year-old man on a subway in New York City on Monday. Activists are increasingly calling for the man who strangled Neely to be arrested. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
The protester’s protest comes after a 24-year-old U.S. Navy veteran and student, Daniel James Penny, held 30-year-old Neely in a fatal chokehold after what police said was an altercation Monday, May 1, on an F train.
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Neely reportedly had a mental episode on the subway route, screaming and pacing back and forth, when Penny intervened, tackling him to the ground and putting him in a chokehold, according to witnesses and police.
More than 15 people were arrested during the day, with most of the arrests taking place at the subway station after protesters stopped a train leaving the station and walked on the subway rails. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
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The city’s medical examiner ruled the death was homicide caused by compression of the neck from the stranglehold. No arrests have been made in connection with the incident.
Lawyers for Penny said in a statement that their client “never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death”.
“When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect himself until help arrived,” Raiser&Kenniff lawyers said.
The lawyers extended Penny’s condolences to those close to Neely. The statement ended with a call for elected officials to “address the mental health crisis in our streets and subways.”
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a writer on Fox News Digital’s breaking news team. You can reach her on Twitter at @s_rumpfwhiteten.