The Rev. Al Sharpton claimed Jordan Neely was “screaming for help” as he battled mental illness at the wake for Neely, the man who Daniel Penny fatally choked aboard a New York City subway train earlier this month. Furthermore, if Penny been Black, Sharpton questioned if the cops would have initially let him go.
At Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem on Friday, Sharpton said that Jordan wasn’t bothering anyone on the train. Jordan was yelling for assistance. People with mental illness continue to face charges of misconduct.
Neely, a 30-year-old homeless Black guy who used to impersonate Michael Jackson, was acting strangely on a train and yelling about hunger and exhaustion on May 1, but he didn’t harm anyone, according to witnesses. Police initially questioned White 24-year-old Marine veteran Penny; she was then let go without being charged.