Hours after a Manhattan jury acquitted Daniel Penny Monday of criminal charges for the choking death of homeless Black man Jordan Neely on an F Train last year, Mayor Eric Adams said that Neely “should not have had to die” but that he respects the jury’s decision.
Adams, during his weekly off-topic media briefing on Dec. 9, noted that Neely shares a first name with his own son — Jordan Coleman — to illustrate what he saw as his connection to the incident. He then appeared to blame Neely’s death on a failing mental health care system at both the city and state levels — as Neely suffered from mental illness and had cycled in and out of psychiatric care for many years before his death.
