At the funeral for Jordan Neely, the man who Daniel Penny put in a fatal chokehold on a New York City subway train earlier this month, the Rev. Al Sharpton said Neely was “screaming for help” as he struggled with mental illness. Sharpton also doubted Penny would have been initially released by police if he was Black.
“Jordan was not annoying someone on the train,” Sharpton said during Friday’s service at Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem. “Jordan was screaming for help. We keep criminalizing people with mental illness.”
Neely, a 30-year-old Black man who was a former Michael Jackson impersonator and homeless, was acting erratically on a train and screaming about being hungry and tired but didn’t attack anyone during the May 1 incident, according to witnesses. Penny, a 24-year-old Marine veteran who is White, was initially questioned by police and released without being charged.
Penny placed Neely in a chokehold from behind, killing him, according to authorities. Penny has been charged with manslaughter, and his attorneys said he was protecting himself and others on the train.
Reuters/Brendan McDermid
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