Why Jordan Neely Being Choked To Death On The NYC Subway Is So Deeply Disturbing

I find myself deeply disturbed at the choking death of Jordan Neely on the New York City Subway earlier this week. 

It is true that Neely had a lengthy arrest record including several assaults (though it is unclear if there were any convictions). It is also true Neely was behaving erratically and frightening people and evidently had made threats to hurt people. This probably would have led to yet another arrest. 

But before police showed up, Neely was attacked from behind and put into chokehold and held down by two other passengers. Mind you, at no point, did Neely assault anyone. Neely's actions, however deplorable and unlawful, did not warrant losing his life.

At this point, all we know is that the man who choked Neely to death is a 24-year old, former Marine who lives in Queens. It is entirely possible this individual did not intend to kill Neely. But this man chose to escalate the situation and one can no more survive being in a chokehold for 15 minutes than one can survive having a knee on one's neck for 8 minutes. At the very minimum, this behavior is negligent and reckless and warrant criminal charges. To not do so will likely encourage further vigilantism against homeless people especially if such vigilantism has no consequences.

Of course, further exacerbating matters is the fact the victim is African-American while the perpetrator is white. Again, we know almost nothing about this 24-year old Marine from Queens who was summarily released and thus the lack of consequence. But if we learn of his identity and his social media profile contains racist commentary then watch out. New York is going to explode. 

And what the hell took authorities so long to get there? Again, this man was in a chokehold for 15 minutes. There is no reason for such a slow response to such a volatile situation. Had they arrived sooner perhaps Jordan Neely would still be alive with the chance to turn his life around.

I say all this with the understanding that the man who put Neely into a chokehold might not be charged and even if he is charged might very well be acquitted. In which case, there will be a civil suit brought by Neely's family against the perpetrator as well as the NYPD and the MTA. Still, the anger will remain. So too will the bloodlust. 

The amount of glee at the death of Jordan Neely online is utterly appalling, but not surprising. Public expressions of hatred towards African-Americans and homeless people and praise for those who murder African-Americans and the homeless are a legacy of Trumpism.

I lived in New York for two years and have lived in Boston on and off for 20 years. I've heard my share of homeless people yelling and threatening people on public transit. In fact, it wasn't long ago while I was on a Silver Line bus a homeless, African-American man called me a racist because I would not sit down next to him. The reason for this is that I was only on for a single stop. However, when he confronted me, I simply told him, "You can do better than that." I don't think he was expecting that because he stopped ranting and my day went on without incident. Hope that was true of him as well.

Unfortunately, we live among people who escalate situations whether its shooting someone for coming to the wrong house or getting into the wrong car or, in this case, try to play action movie hero. These are the consequences of teaching our children war and anger instead of peace and calm.