Neelay was a popular Michael Jackson impersonator who had amassed a following within and beyond New York City due to his videos being shared widely on social media.
The 24-year-old US Marine veteran who placed 30-year-old Michael Jackson's imitator Jordan Neely in a chokehold for several minutes but had not been named by authorities and no charges had been filed against him even after Neely’s death was classified by the city’s medical examiner on Wednesday as homicide, as per a report by The Guardian.
Know more about protests after Michael Jackson's imitator was choked to death in New York:
Protesters marched in Manhattan on May 3 to protest demanding that charges be framed against the accused.
New York mayor and police were criticised for lack of action over Jordan Neely’s death, as per the report.
Crowds also protested in New York on subway trains.
Angry protests denounced the injustice in the case as authorities continue their investigations before deciding whether or not to press charges against the younger marine veteran.
Eyewitness Juan Alberto Vazquez, a freelance journalist, told The New York Post how the fatal incident took place. Neely boarded the northbound F train at Second Avenue station and began making a speech. “He started screaming in an aggressive manner." He said he had no food, he had no drink, that he was tired and doesn’t care if he goes to jail. He started screaming all these things, took off his jacket, a black jacket that he had, and threw it on the ground.” At this point, the stranger, the 24-year-old Marine veteran, stepped in to tackle Neely.
A video of the incident showed Neely flailing his arms and legs in an effort to free himself as the straphanger had him in a headlock and another bystander helps to hold him down on the floor of the subway train. “He moved his arms but he couldn’t express anything,” Vazquez said. “All he could do was move his arms. Then suddenly he just stopped moving,” Vasquez recalled. “He was out of strength.”
The eyewitness expressed mixed feelings about the incident as he said Neely had not physically attacked anyone on the train before he was taken down.
On Wednesday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul addressed a video saying that the incident was 'deeply disturbing' but declined to say if the state would be investigating it as a criminal matter, as per the Daily Mail UK.
Local reports such as one by The Gothamist mentioned that protesters began assembling at New York City's Broadway-Lafayette subway station on Wednesday, where Neely was taken to the hospital from, to protest his death. Chants of 'Black Lives Matter,' 'Justice for Jordan Neely,' 'F*** Eric Adams' and 'The Homeless Matter' were heard. As many as four arrests were made at the protest, independent journalist Liam Quigley reported.
According to a report by the Daily Mail UK, his family said that he suffered from autism and schizophrenia and was permanently scarred by the murder of his mother, Christine Neely, in 2007. His mother was killed by her boyfriend, at that time Jordan Neely was 14-year-old. In the following years, he fell victim to homelessness and failed attempts to live with his father, as per the report.
New York State Senator Jabari Brisport condemned the incident as "lynching". "Jordan Neely was lynched. He had no food, no water, no safe place to rest. He had the audacity to publicly yell about that massive injustice, so they killed him," he wrote in a tweet.
According to The Guardian, Minister Ray Tarvin dismissed the attempt to show Neely as aggressive and violent. “He was a nice person, not aggressive or violent. Everyone who knew him knows that. He’d accept anything you had – many of the homeless down here are sober. They’re needing food or shelter or clothing, not strung out and shooting up dope,” said Minister Ray Tarvin during a protest on Wednesday in the subway, as quoted by the report.
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