I photographed the latest NYC subway victim
Intro: On October 3, 2010, I randomly photographed Jordan Neely dancing in the 34th Street subway station (see above).
You've surely heard the latest news about the NYC subway by now. A homeless man named Jordan Neely, a subway dancer known for his on-point impersonations of Michael Jackson entered an F Train in search of food.
Witnesses agreed his behavior was erratic and perhaps threatening. If you’ve ridden the NYC subway long enough, “erratic and perhaps threatening” is a daily occurrence. For Neely, it seemed to be the norm — as seen here and here.
Neely had a long police record — 42 arrests. Most of his interactions with the law were related to the fact that it’s illegal to dance and solicit money in the subway.
However, he’d also been arrested for three unprovoked assaults on women in the subway between 2019 and 2021. Sources say Neely additionally had a warrant out for his arrest for a November 2021 case in which he was accused of assaulting a 67-year-old woman in the East Village.
Some claim Neely was carrying a knife on the F Train. Others say he did not seem violent. One passenger decided to take matters into his own hands.
He got Neely in a chokehold. Neely ended up dead.
Coda: Based on the limited evidence available, all I feel comfortable saying for now is:
A sad situation in that an obviously disturbed man was not getting any help and allowed to harm innocent people. With cops leaving in droves because somehow they are the bad guys, so not enough of them to maintain order. Past that, even if they do arrest people, the Soros backed DA has an agenda of creating chaos.
I think it is bad, if people who are homeless (and therefore most poor) cannot try and make some money dancing or making music in the street or subway. Of course the assaults are bad. But there should have been help some way or another for a poor man like that, so he need not end up dead by someone (probably much better off) than he was.