Mayor Implies It's Jordan Neely Who Should Have Been Detained

NEW YORK CITY — As New York City waits to find out if the ex-Marine who put Jordan Neely in a fatal 15-minute chokehold will face criminal charges, Eric Adams suggested Wednesday it was the mentally ill Neely who should have been detained by the city without his consent.

Adams's 14-minute address Wednesday lasted a minute less than the chokehold Daniel Penny used on Neely in a Manhattan F train last week, yet he did not discuss police's controversial decision to let Penny walk away without charges, despite Neely's death being ruled a homicide days later.

Instead, Adams pitched New York on a much-criticized plan to send more mentally ill people to hospitals without their consent, calling on the state to pass a law clarifying when officials can intervene.

"This is the kind of care Jordan needed and that so many were trying to get for him," Adams said.

"He had various encounters with the criminal justice system and was provided services to help him live safely in the community, but those efforts were not enough, and we must find ways to strengthen our system."

Adams' lengthy discussion of the city's mental health policy failures contrasted sharply with the brevity of his reference to the circumstances surrounding Neely's death.

"One thing we can say for sure: Jordan Neely did not deserve to die," the mayor said. “He was suffering from severe mental illness, but that was not the cause of his death.”

What was, Adams did not say. This point was not lost upon New Yorkers who took to social media to respond.

"He didn't reference how Neely was actually killed in this address once," tweeted Chris Sosa, a political campaign specialist. "Mayor Eric Adams is using the killing of Jordan Neely to push his own political agenda to strip rights from people living with mental illness while providing a de facto defense for the killer."

Tweeted another New Yorker, "Mayor Adams is arguing that Jordan Neely was murdered because the government doesn’t involuntarily commit enough people."

John Teufel, a lawyer and columnist, went so far as to argue the mayor himself held responsibility for Neely's death.

"Eric Adams has a vested interest in Jordan Neely's murder being justified," Teufel said. "Because if it wasn't - if it was, in fact, a murder - Adams has blood on his hands for creating this climate of paranoia and anti-homeless sentiment."

Person who doesn't follow the news and just watched Eric Adams' speech:

Wow that sucks that someone died of mental illness on the subway.
— john teufel esq (@JohnTeufelNYC) May 10, 2023

Forcing anyone into treatment is a recipe for failure, said Donna Lieberman, executive director for the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Adams has moved to sweep homeless New Yorkers from public view by incorrectly linking those with mental illness to an increase in crime, Lieberman said.

"There is no evidence supporting Adams’ harmful and dangerous rhetoric," Lieberman said in a statement. "People with mental disability are far more often the victims of violence. This kind of stigmatization and fearmongering contributes to the victimization of people with disabilities – the same that led to the killing of Jordan Neely."