Dozens of demonstrators on Saturday blocked the tracks at a Manhattan subway station in protest of homeless man Jordan Neely's death.
"No justice! No peace!" protesters shouted as an oncoming train slammed on its brakes, video shows. Neely, a schizophrenic homeless man with a history of menacing subway passengers, died last Monday after subway passengers, including a 24-year-old Marine, intervened to restrain him as he threatened violence and threw trash at commuters.
The reaction to Neely's death reveals the divide in New York and the country at large over a rising crime and mental health crisis. As progressives in New York continue to push soft-on-crime reforms, the state's crime rates continue to soar. Twenty-seven other people have been violently killed on the New York City subway since 2020. NYPD officers are leaving in droves because of the city's anti-police policies, with one Manhattan cop calling the entire system "unfixable in its current state."
Far-left congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) called Neely's death a "public execution" and blamed Democratic mayor Eric Adams, who ran as a tough-on-crime moderate.
"It is appalling how so many take advantage of headlines re: crime for an obsolete 'tough on crime' political, media, & budgetary gain," Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
Police managed to get Saturday's protesters off the tracks after several minutes, but the mob soon blocked subway riders from exiting the arriving train. Several protesters aggressively pushed against NYPD officers as they began evacuating the station. The NYPD arrested at least seven protesters, law enforcement told the New York Post.
Race hustler Al Sharpton on Thursday called on Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg (D.) to "investigate and prosecute" the passengers who restrained Neely. Police released Daniel Penny, the 24-year-old Marine whose chokehold on Neely caused the homeless man's death, with no charges last week. Penny's legal team claims he "never intended to harm" Neely, the Post reported.