By The FirstNew York City Mayor Eric Adams and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are at odds over the recent death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old vagrant who was killed on Monday after being placed in a chokehold on a New York City subway train. Ocasio-Cortez has labeled the incident as a “murder” while Mayor Adams has called for patience, urging the public to allow the District Attorney to conduct a thorough investigation.
Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon to express her thoughts on the matter. She tweeted that Jordan Neely was “murdered” because he was “houseless and crying for food in a time when the city is raising rents and stripping services to militarize itself[.]”
Mayor Adams appeared on CNN on Wednesday evening to address Ocasio-Cortez’s claims. “I don’t think that’s very responsible at the time where we are still investigating the situation,” Adams 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.”
Adams emphasized the importance of allowing authorities to determine the facts of the case. “I’m going to be responsible and allow them to do their job and allow them to determine exactly what happened here,” the mayor added.
The New York City medical examiner ruled Wednesday that Neely’s death was a homicide due to “compression of neck.” Witnesses reported that Neely was experiencing a mental episode when a 24-year-old Marine from Queens intervened, taking him down from behind and placing him in a chokehold for about 15 minutes.
