New York City Mayor Eric Adams has slammed AOC for labeling the former Marine who put homeless man Jordan Neely in a chokehold on the subway a ‘murderer’ and urged her to wait until the facts of the investigation into his death emerge.
Neely, 30, was a homeless Michael Jackson impersonator with autism and schizophrenia who has been arrested 42 times in the past, including for punching a 67-year-old woman in the face.
At 2.30pm on Monday, he was riding on the F train heading towards Broadway Lafayette station when he started screaming and throwing garbage at fellow passengers, according to witnesses.
Juan Alberto Vasquez, who was on the train and filmed the chokehold, said Neely yelled: ‘I don’t have food, I don’t have a drink, I’m fed up. I don’t mind going to jail and getting life in prison. I’m ready to die.’
A fight broke out and the former Marine, who has not yet been named, put him in a chokehold.
Two other men helped the Marine restrain Neely until police were called to the scene. He later died in the hospital. The Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled his death a homicide by way of pressure to the neck.
