New York City Mayor Eric Adams has people feeling outraged over his comments on CNN last night over, saying Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was “irresponsible” for calling Jordan Neely’s death a murder. As we previously reported, Neely was held in a 15-minute chokehold during a train ride in New York on Monday afternoon, with witnesses alleging that the 30-year-old homeless man had been ranting about having no food or drink.
While he’s said to have shown “threatening” behavior, Neely never physically harmed anybody during his rant on the subway. But a 24-year-old former marine decided to take matters into his own hands by walking up on Neely and placing him in a chokehold that subsequently ended his life. He was placed into custody but released shortly after. Cortez had taken to Twitter last night, calling the act a “murder” and “disgusting,” to which Adams responded during his appearance on CNN Primetime on Wednesday evening, and he appears to see things differently.
New York Mayor Eric Adams calling AOC “irresponsible” saying Jordan Neely’s death was a murder. Insane! pic.twitter.com/K0pdhpjtih
— Anna Nicole’s Niece (@thechosenputa) May 4, 2023
“I don’t think that’s very responsible at a time when we’re still investigating the situation,” he said. Let’s let the DA conduct his investigation with the law enforcement officials, to really interfere with that is not the right thing to do.” It’s since been reported that Neely did suffer from mental health issues which started following the murder of his mother, who was killed by his stepfather back in 2007. Adams insisted that “there’s a lot we don’t know what happened here.”
“However, we do know that there were serious mental health issues in play here, which is why our administration has made record investments in providing care to those who need it and getting people off the streets and the subways, and out of dangerous situations,” he continued.
Since the video of Neely’s death went viral, there’s been a huge amount of backlash against New York law enforcement for allowing the man responsible for the chokehold to be let go, as many are calling for him to be charged with murder.
Jordan Neely was murdered.
But bc Jordan was houseless and crying for food in a time when the city is raising rents and stripping services to militarize itself while many in power demonize the poor, the murderer gets protected w/ passive headlines + no charges.
It’s disgusting. https://t.co/YJeQp9bbgE
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 3, 2023
RELATED: New York City Handing Out Free Apple AirTags In An Effort To Prevent Car Theft
Protests have been held all over the Big Apple in an ongoing fight for justice, with people particularly disturbed at the fact that Neely did not hurt anyone but was kept in a chokehold for 15 minutes when he could have simply been restrained if he was a danger to other commuters on the train.
In a tribute to his late son, Neely’s father Andre Zachery paid tribute in a statement that read, “Jordan was a good man. He was a good person. He grew up good. He always had a (temper), but he never used to hurt anyone … He wasn’t bad. He was beautiful.”
The case remains ongoing.