Jordan Neely, the left’s martyr
This is an important article about the campaign against Daniel Perry, a man who subdued Jordan Neely on a New York subway, an act that resulted in Neely’s death:
Penny’s fate will, as Peachy Keenan wrote in The Federalist, be a test of whether young American men should dare to act courageously when others are in peril. But there’s even more at stake in this case. With Neely being anointed as the new George Floyd, the questions of whether Penny was right to restrain Neely or if he used inappropriate force to do so are merely sidebars to a broader narrative about American racism.
Floyd’s death became a metaphor for a myth about systemic police racism. Floyd’s actions the night of his death, his criminal record, and the fact that his body was full of what might have been a lethal dose of fentanyl were dismissed as irrelevant. The only thing that mattered was that he was a black man and that the cop who had, in an act of undoubted callous brutality, snuffed out his life was white. In the name of a belief, however mistaken, that Floyd’s death was just one of countless incidents in which blacks were being slaughtered with impunity, millions took to the streets in “mostly peaceful” riots that shook the nation.
More than that, it set off a moral panic in virtually every sector of American life that elevated the woke catechism of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to a new secular religion…
The prosecution of the ex-Marine will not just establish a precedent that there is a “right” of a deranged, drug-addicted person to terrorize others with impunity. It will also, like Floyd’s death or that of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, or a dozen other equally dubious cases, be routinely cited from now on as proof of American racism and a reason for doubling down on woke policies that will further divide and racialize the nation…
The freedom for the homeless that has been established in New York [and so many other cities]…means the rights of other citizens to a livable city are abrogated.
Now for a personal note. As many of you know, I grew up in NYC in the 50s and 60s, and I rode the subway frequently by myself even as a child of ten or eleven. As such, I witnessed quite a few people like Jordan Neely – that is, mentally ill people riding the subway and yelling at no one or at the other passengers, sometimes issuing threats. In those days, the line I rode was in fairly seedy areas (I was ordinarily going to and from ballet classes), and although sometimes it was heavily populated, most of the time the cars weren’t loaded. Therefore each passenger was highly spotlighted and visible.
Although I was ten or eleven I looked older; I was pretty much full grown and probably appeared to be in my mid or late teens. I was sometimes a target of the attention of one of these crazies. I remember in particular one day when the train was stopped between stations, as it often did, for an indeterminate time. It was early evening, perhaps seven or eight PM, and there were probably only ten or so people in my car. An agitated black man who was sitting somewhat across from me begin yelling that the train had stopped in order to punish us – in order for him to punish us – which he was going to proceed to do. I don’t remember the details of his rather lengthy speech, except that he was threatening our deaths although he didn’t do anything except yell loudly and look antsy and tense.
I remember doing what I usually did, which was to look away and at the floor and somehow hope I was utterly invisible. I recall that a few people got up and went into the next car, but that drew his attention and he threatened them as they went. Was it safer to stay or leave? What was he actually going to do? The train stayed in that tunnel for what seemed like a long long time, and then it finally moved again.
Did I get off at the next stop and wait for the next train, which on that line wouldn’t have come all that quickly? Which was the riskier move, staying or leaving? This was the sort of calculation everyone riding the subways had to make, even back in those relatively safe-seeming days.
In later decades things got even worse, and then they got a lot better for a while during the Giuliani years. At a certain point I felt safe riding the subways, something I had never felt as a child.
I haven’t been to New York City in a few years, so I haven’t had personal experience with the way it is now. But obviously, it’s not good. And I know quite well what passengers feel when a crazy person starts to threaten them, and the sort of decisions each one has to make. Most of the time, taking the approach I took – look away, keep a very low profile – gets a person through the experience unscathed. But there’s no way of knowing if this time the threatening person will back up threatening words with violent deeds.
Penny apparently thought Neely just might get violent – as he apparently had in the past, although Penny had no way of knowing that unless he had witnessed those previous incidents. The victim of one of them speaks out:
Anne Mitcheltree said she was randomly punched in the head in June 2021 by Jordan Neely inside S.K. Deli Market on 2nd Avenue in the East Village. The attack caused swelling and substantial pain but left no permanent damage.
After police arrested Neely, Mitcheltree, 65, assumed her aggressor would face charges and psychiatric lockup.
“They told me we have him, he’s in custody, we’re going to press charges,” Mitcheltree, a creative arts therapist with New York City Health + Hospitals for over 40 years, told The Post.
“I thought the judge would have forced him to take psychiatric meds, but it seems like he bounced out.”
Law enforcement sources said that Neely had 42 prior arrests on his long rap sheet — most recently for punching a 67-year-old woman in the East Village in November 2021, which landed him in jail for over a year.
An arrest warrant for Neely had been issued on Feb. 23, although details of the ongoing case were not immediately available.
“I don’t know why he didn’t end up in Bronx Psychiatric Center,” Mitcheltree said, adding, “This is a common understanding in psychiatry, that agitated people who are aggressive get themselves killed.”
Or get someone else killed:
Neely’s aggression continued the day before his death, when he allegedly tried to push a straphanger into the subway tracks at the Broadway-Lafayette station in Lower Manhattan.
“This man jumped on me, grabbed my shoulders, and pushed me towards the tracks Sunday night at this very station,” a Reddit user posted Wednesday about the terrifying incident, which they declined to discuss further.
Is that true? Who knows?
I would make a comment about “law of the jungle”, except in the jungle I don’t think the general public has to deal with other animals who are mentally unbalanced. This is truly a social problem. It apparently raises its head in the subway by people making random attacks, including pushing people onto the tracks, and in CA, OR and WA by people building massive homeless camps. Whatever, the common thread appears to be mental instability and/or addiction. Have we done anyone a favor by allowing them a free hand to attack others on the subway or to shoot up in public? I don’t think so. When will the American voting public say they’ve had enough?
So many unanswered questions. The Narrative says that Penny ‘choked him out’, but others have pointed out, it was not a chokehold; it was a carotid hold, which leaves the airway open in the crook of the elbow, while applying pressure to the carotid arteries on the left and right side of the neck.
Next, it appears that Nealy died in the hospital, not the floor of the subway. And then, with lightning speed, the Medical Examiner announces that the cause of death was the ‘chokehold’, without elaborating. Meanwhile, toxicology work has not been completed, but there is evidence that Nealy was self-medicating with K2, or ‘Spice’, apparently some kind of potent cannabinoid drug that I’m not familiar with, but which apparently can induce paranoia and hallucinations.
So Neely dies in the hospital with illicit drugs in his system. Hmm. So many unanswered questions. Sometimes it takes a month to get full toxicology results – that ought to be enough time for the Court of Public Opinion to function in the fullness of comfort.
Live in the jungle expect to live by the law of the jungle. What else can be said?
Self defense is gradually being banned in this country. The rancher in AZ is an example. I haven’t heard anything about him and his wife since he was arrested. I have looked and learned that he was finally released on $1 million bail raised on “GiveSendGo,” a Christian funding out fit that, unlike “GoFundMe”, does not include politics in its decision to accept contributions. The charge has been reduced to Second Degree Murder, a meaningless change. He is still being punished for self defense. The left has moved the Overton Window since the kid in Kenosha was acquitted.
In these days of ubiquitous cellphones, you have to be extremely careful in encounters with the “crazy shouting black man” on subways. Any attempt to placate or god forbit, physically subdue, the guy is going to be recorded, often by fellow black subway riders who view the crazy man as an ally and victim and any interloper, especially if white, as an oppressor (and will edit their footage afterwards to best fit that opinion). The rule I’ve followed for over a decade is to avoid the slightest interaction and if possible move as surreptitiously as possible and to place more oblivious potential targets between myself and the guy. I find that Asian riders often don’t take the subtle route and quickly and conspicuously get up and flee from these disturbed black passengers, which often attracts their ire (and aggression).
I wish Daniel Penny well.
The NYC subway system is a disgrace. Eric Adams is an incompetent ass,
I was born in Manhattan and lived there for many years.
New York City is no longer great. Just another blue scum-pit.
Elizabeth Spiers (a Democratic pollster associated with NYU and Pravda-on-the-Hudson) has recently criticized (see the piece in the NYPost) those worried about safety on the subway as having exaggerated and groundless fears; this represents the standard leftist strategy of vilifying as “racist” anyone concerned with enforcing the law and ensuring order. May 25th will mark the third anniversary of the death of Floyd, the felonious fentanyl-addict; it remains to be seen whether the (equally unworthy of hagiographical martyr-status) J Neely will inspire such violent and destructive behavior this summer from the brain-washed foot-soldiers agitating in the streets and acting on behalf of the ruling class in our current totalitarian regime.
Arbery was the first strike but it was a damp squib they had primed the ground waiting for a spark
As a regular subway rider (starting in 1971) I can well understand the fear you felt. That is why the 1974 film “Death Wish” (despite the poor acting) resonated so much with me and my friend when we saw it one early evening in Manhattan that we sat through it twice! I look back to the 20 years of Giulani-Bloomberg as a Golden Age in NYC and I just knew once Bill de Blasio took over the reins of City Hall that bad times were a coming!
The primary duty of government is to protect the citizens from foreign and domestic enemies or threats. Our governments have lost sight of that mission. Instead, our governments have become instruments to redistribute the taxes collected and to benefit their political allies.
The very fact that many cities defunded their police departments in 2020-21 shows how little they care about their real role as protectors of their citizens. Our open southern border is another illustration of their dereliction of duty.
That citizens have to take extraordinary measures to protect themselves is another indictment of their failure to protect. When the government does not do its job, vigilante justice will ensue. Daniel Penny is a harbinger of that. He should not be prosecuted. Instead, he should be held up as a messenger of what’s coming if government continues to fail at its primary duty.
A healthy society cannot live in fear of psychotic marauders, thieves, murderers, open-air addiction, widespread homeless camps, and millions of illegal aliens – all threats to the peaceful enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
How did our governments, federal, state, and local get so far off-track? IMO, it began with Teddy Roosevelt and has gradually grown the activities of government away from that of protectors of citizens into incessant meddlers in all facets of their citizens’ lives while moving away from their primary duty.
A powerful step toward change would be to close our border, rebuild our armed forces, rebuild and back our police departments, and resume forced treatment of mental illness and addiction.
Mental illness. Drugs. Or maybe in some cases these are modern demonic possessions. Several or all of the above in cases. I know that the secular people here will completely dismiss this. When I was younger the almost unspoken idea in conservative Baptist churches I attended seemed to be that there had been a cessation of demonic possession, at least in the civilized world. That was just back in ” Bible times.” I am no longer so sure of that. And almost certainly the idea of being given over to a ” reprobate mind “, from the Biblical book of Romans, seems to be in play among our nation’s cultural and political leaders and even the general population.
When I heard about the Neely case, just like so many recent violent incidents in the NYC subway system, my first thought was I was so glad that I am currently on FML and not going into the city at all!
My second thought was oh no they are going to go after that hero who, most likely, saved lives or, at least, saved others from physical harm.
There have been too many times to list them all (I’ve been working in NY since the mid 90s) that have left me rather nervous.
Since the days of Giuliani the system has gone downhill; and then with the pandemic shutdown it has fallen even further.
And Neo is absolutely correct – in the past my action would have been to “look the other way and hope that the crazy doesn’t go after me.” But, not any more. As a white guy (and now looking like a rather elderly white guy to boot) it is just plain not safe to do anything as you will be their target. You have to move; move to another car, get off at the next stop (unless you know that the next stop is rather deserted and would be less safe), but no longer can you just ignore the danger and hope you are not the target.
When Trump won the election the black bigots who targeted whites/Asians became even bolder.
The NYC subway just is NOT safe. period.
JJ says, “A powerful step toward change would be to close our border, rebuild our armed forces, rebuild and back our police departments, and resume forced treatment of mental illness and addiction.”
The combination of a porous southern border and cesspit inner cities just might lead to gang warfare or worse between “migrants” and inner-city blacks. One of Althouse’s commenters said yesterday that if there is a race war here in the near future, it will be between blacks and the new arrivals, not between blacks and whites. Considering that a large portion of the “migrants” who have already registered with Border Patrol state that they want to go to either New York or Chicago, we may be in for a long hot summer when the border surge begins tomorrow.
I’m sure that in all the ‘noise’ surrounding this the fact that a black man was trying to help Penny subdue Neely will be lost or dismissed. Whoever that man is, he certainly thought that Neely was a threat and not a poor black man being attacked by a white man. To a rational person, watching the video of this incident, this was the action of a ‘community’ trying to protect themselves. I do believe that Penny is a hero and wasn’t trying to hurt or kill Neely.
Penny will do prison time. The DA will succumb to the MOB. We’re going downhill as a society and I can’t think of a way out. It’s sad and frightening.
From a sane, logical (i.e., non-leftist propagandist) point of view, the first sentence completely renders the “had no way of knowing” phrase irrelevant. The collective experience (direct or indirect through news accounts) of sane, logical folk is that, when in the presence of an obviously crazy person, the risk of suffering significant physical injury is way, way above zero percent. Physical action or oral threats by such a person are, from a sane, logical point of view, more than sufficient basis for self defense action to subdue that person. Self defense action does not necessarily mean intentionally fatal action. Penny acted responsibly. He is a hero. However, leftists have too much power in today’s world, and he (and we) may suffer.
(Yes, this is a long-winded echo of the sentiments of JFM on May 10, 2023 at 7:23 pm.)
After how Rittenhouse was portrayed in the media I’m taking whatever they say in this case with a huge boulder of salt. I mean how many times did I hear “crossing state lines” but didn’t hear “Antioc is a suburb of kenosha and is about 20-25 minutes away”? Way too many. The fact the prosecution committed numerous ethical violations including violations of Brady disclosures and attempts to deprive Rittenhouse of his 5th amendment rights that should have gotten them disbarred, I’ll be totally be not surprised if that happens in this case. (But I’ll hold off comment about this case until more info comes out.)
More on the desire of “migrants” to go to NYC: The mayor of El Paso “said he would continue to send migrants to New York if they want to go regardless of the city’s situation, noting many want to live in major market areas. ‘It’s not because we want them to go there,’ Leeser said. ‘It’s not because someone has pushed them there. They want to live that American dream and be able to go through the legal process and work there.'”
Leeser added that Mayor Adams also asked “migrants” why they want to come to NYC: “And they said, ‘Because we saw it on TV and we feel that that’s somewhere we want to make a life . . .'”
https://nypost.com/2023/05/10/el-paso-ready-to-bus-more-migrants-to-nyc-as-title-42-end-looms/
As one commenter on the article noted: “Boy oh boy are these folks delusional. They saw New York on TV and want to live there. In for a rude awakening. Were they watching movies from the 60s?”
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