New York, May 7 Protests to demand justice for the murder of a homeless black race with mental problems on the subway in New York continued this Saturday night, when a group went down to the tracks at a station and temporarily paralyzed transportation, according to local media.
Almost a week ago Jordan Neely, 30, died on the subway when he was strangled by a passenger later identified as Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old white former US Marine, in a case that has caused controversy and put the spotlight on the mental health crisis in the city.
Since then there have been protests, but yesterday’s, which blocked transportation for half an hour at a Manhattan station in a tense atmosphere with the police, according to videos published this Sunday by ABC7 and The Wall Street Journal, has been criticized by its dangerousness by the authorities.
On May 1, Neely, a Michael Jackson impersonator, yelled to passengers on a carriage that he was hungry, thirsty and ready to die when Penny knocked him to the ground and held him in a chokehold for 15 minutes until he suffocated, according to testimonies and videos of the incident collected in the media.
The forensic report on Wednesday classified the death as a homicide and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office says it is investigating what happened while Neely’s family denounces the slow response of justice, pointing out the racial component of the case, and Penny’s lawyers assure that it was a “tragic accident.
The case is expected to go to a grand jury next week, which will determine whether the evidence warrants a criminal indictment for Penny by prosecutors.
The lawyers for Neely’s family criticized this Sunday on the MSNBC channel that the authorities did not charge Penny but rather gave him “the benefit of the doubt” when questioning him and releasing him, although he appears in a video applying the deadly key to Neely while two other passengers help hold him down.
They added that the victim had suffered trauma since adolescence from the murder of her mother at the hands of her stepfather, but had tried to get her life back on track and had a family network.
Penny’s attorneys alluded in a statement to the victim’s “erratic and violent behavior, apparently the result of untreated mental illness,” saying that when she “began to aggressively threaten” passengers, their client acted to “protect them.” until help arrived.”
“Daniel never wanted to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his premature death,” added the lawyers, who took the opportunity to demand that the authorities “address the mental health crisis in our streets and subways.”
According to police sources indicated to the media, Neely had documented mental health problems and had been arrested more than 40 times for assault, problem behavior and for not paying the subway ticket.
2023-05-07 17:31:58
#Protests #continue #York #murder #homeless #man #subway
