At least 11 protesters were arrested during protests in New York City on Monday night as they clashed with authorities. The murder of Jordan Neelywho died of suffocation on the F train earlier this month.
A crowd of protesters gathered outside the subway station in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood where Neely was killed on May 1, CBS New York Authorities stopped traffic in the neighborhood and took several protesters into custody, who were bleeding from the head, according to the report news station. Police estimated that more than 150 people were involved in the protest.
NYPD Chief Jeffrey Madre acknowledged protesters’ right to protest over Neely’s “senseless death,” but said at a news conference late Monday that people in the crowd had broken the law by bringing weapons and dangerous materials to the protest. . Madre specifically noted that authorities found a Molotov cocktail at the intersection where a crowd had gathered to protest.
This is a Molotov cocktail found at tonight’s protest. We are committed to ensuring everyone’s right to protest. Violence has no place in civil protests. This activity will never be tolerated and anyone bringing weapons or dangerous materials will be arrested. https://t.co/5eS5A525SQ pic.twitter.com/VMh14FQQSD
— NYPD News (@NYPDnews) May 9, 2023
For days, protesters have been calling for the arrest of Daniel Penney, a 24-year-old student and US Marine Corps veteran who choked Neely in the nearly three minutes of video footage that led to her death. However, the New York City Medical Examiner has officially ruled the 30-year-old Neely Death is murder, was not criminally charged in Penny’s murder. The former Marine was questioned by police, but released the same day.
The case is A grand jury is expected to go before This week, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg faced increasing pressure to file criminal charges against Penny. A grand jury will decide whether to bring charges.
Protesters say they will continue to protest until Penny is arrested. Monday’s protest over Neely’s death followed another over the weekend inside a subway station at 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue. Authorities said the crowd was about 100 people Attacked the station, some by jumping onto the subway tracks in protest. At least 12 people were arrested during the protest, in which multiple officers were injured, and police later released photos of six other accused protesters wanted for criminal trespassing in connection with the incident.
Neely, a homeless man who performed as a Michael Jackson impersonator in New York City, had a history of mental illness as well as an arrest record, sources previously told CBS New York. Witnesses and Penny’s attorney said Neely was acting erratically, yelling about being tired and hungry, on the subway train when Penny, allegedly trying to subdue her, placed Neely in fatal restraints.
On Monday, Neely’s family called on city officials to take action to move his case forward in a statement released by their attorneys.
They argued that Penny’s “actions on the train,” as well as his own statements released after the fact, “show why he should be in prison.” A press release issued by his attorney on Penny’s behalf last week said the former Marine “never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death,” calling the fatal strangulation “a tragic incident on the NYC subway.”
Brooke Lansdale/AP
Michael Bachner, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan, told CBS Mornings that a grand jury could potentially find that Penny acted in self-defense when she held Neely on the subway.
“I think what happened is, things got really out of control. But horrible accidents can sometimes turn into homicides,” Bachner said. “The testimony of the other people on the train, how endangered they must have felt, how heightened and really scary and aggressive the whole situation was, it could lead to the conclusion that he acted in self-defense.”
But Neely’s family attorney, Lennon Edwards, argued that Penny should be held accountable for her role in the murder.
Edwards told CBS Mornings that an immediate trial means an arrest. “That means following the process, and letting Daniel Penney have a day in court where he tries to prove that this is something we know nothing about. A murder.”