Members of the communist-founded American Civil Liberties Union never met a dangerous criminal they didn't like or want on the streets, and schizophrenic criminal Jordan Neely also joined the group in New York. Our chapter, the NYCLU, was no exception.
He just needed help, the far-left group tweeted, and should not have been the victim of Daniel Penny, who put Neely in a chokehold as he threatened passengers on a subway train. . Neely later died from multiple causes, but not from Penny's restraints.
After the jury acquitted Penny, the NYCLU told the It will remain forever as a symbol.”
As the Jets delinquent sang to Officer Krupke in West Side Story, he was “depraved because I am deprived.”
Not so, a community memo reminded the NYCLU. Neely had a chance to reform after attacking the woman. he refused.
What was not said was that the NYCLU took the lead in keeping mentally ill people like Neely out of psychiatric hospitals.
“Route Driver”
A jury acquitted Penny of second-degree manslaughter on Monday after deadlocking on a charge of second-degree manslaughter on Friday.
Witnesses said people strapping on the subway on May 1, 2023, were horrified when Mr Neely said “someone is going to die” and had a “demonic” look on his face. He said he felt it. Thinking Neely might hurt or kill someone, Penny strangled Neely. Expert witnesses later said Neely did not die in the chokehold. Instead, his own multiple illnesses, including sickle cell disease, and “synthetic marijuana” ended his life.
After the jury released Penny, the NYCLU blamed the system.
“Jordan Neely deserved basic human rights: a safe place to live, adequate food, and access to mental health care,” the far-left group wrote.
He should still be alive today.
It's time for New York's leaders to seriously address the root causes of homelessness and chronic lack of mental health care.
Readers pointed to a New York Times article about Neely's posthumous criminal history, with one exception:
Jordan Neely was given stable housing and free access to medical care at a treatment facility in the Bronx as part of a plea deal with prosecutors after he struck a 67-year-old woman on the street in 2021. . He abandoned the facility after 13 days.
times story
Far from having “slipped through the cracks,” as the far-left discussion about the Neely family of this world says, social services workers were putting the Neely family under a microscope.
Officials with the Bowery Residents Committee, a nonprofit that works with homeless people on the subway, said he was well known for many years on the social work team that serves homeless people on the subway. The city reportedly encountered them hundreds of times.
Neely was on what outreach activists call the “Top 50” list. The list is a city-maintained directory of homeless people living on the streets who authorities have determined are in most urgent need of help and treatment. He was taken to the hospital multiple times, both voluntarily and involuntarily, said the employee, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss his background.
Neely has been arrested more than 40 times, as well as for misdemeanors such as turnstile jumping.
“At least four arrests were made on suspicion of assaulting someone, two of them on the subway.”
Neely was also a K2 (synthetic marijuana) addict.
In June 2019, outreach staff noticed that Neely had lost a lot of weight and was sleeping upright. Around that time, he reportedly banged on the booth attendant's door and threatened to kill her, according to employee notes. Then he was gone.
In other words, Neely was in constant contact with either the police or social workers. The authorities did not ignore his crimes or his plight. The city's Intensive Mobile Treatment Team, a team of mental health clinicians who serve people on the streets and in shelters, also cared for Neely. They took him to Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital. There he stayed for a week.
became violent
Three years ago, “Neely's aggression seemed to peak when he punched a 67-year-old woman on a Lower East Side street, police said,” the Times continued.
The woman suffered severe facial injuries, including a broken nose, according to court documents. Police said he was charged with assault and sentenced to 15 months in prison pending resolution of the case, but his family said the sentence was shorter.
He pleaded guilty on February 9 of this year, a carefully planned strategy between the city and his lawyers to get treatment and stay out of prison.
“Do you know what your goal is today?” Judge Ellen M. Beaven asked during the hearing.
“Yes,” Mr. Neely replied.
“What is that goal?”
“Be able to participate in the program both physically and mentally.”
If Neely could enter a facility and stay drug-free for 15 months, “his felony conviction would be reduced.” Neely took medication and vowed to quit drugs. He promised that he would not leave the facility without permission.
He broke that promise, the Times reported.
“This is a great opportunity to turn things around, and we're happy to give you that,” prosecutor Mary Weisgarber said.
“Thank you very much,” Neely replied.
But after just 13 days, he abandoned the facility. Judge Biven issued a warrant for his arrest.
In March, an outreach worker found him on the subway, neatly dressed, calm and collected, and drove him to a shelter in the Bronx. (Outreach workers typically do not check for arrest warrants when interacting with homeless people.) But what followed was a downward spiral.
On April 8, when outreach workers approached him at the end of a subway car in Coney Island, Neely urinated in front of them. When an outreach worker went to call the police, Neely said, “Please wait until they get there. I've got something for you, just hang in there,” according to an employee's memo. It is said that he shouted.
The police threw him off the train. They didn't know about the warrant.
The Times reported that aid workers wrote that “aggressive and incoherent” Neely “could cause harm to others or himself if left untreated.”
In other words, the NYCLU overlooked all the people who tried to help Neely: the “outreach workers,” the “intensive mobile treatment team,” the judge, prosecutors, and his attorney during his assault case. That's true. I'm an outreach worker. ”
Three weeks later, he went wild on the subway.
Another thing NYCLU didn't mention. He has repeatedly filed lawsuits to prevent mentally ill people from being violated involuntarily. If the city had confined Mr. Neely in the facility against his will, the city likely would have filed a lawsuit on Mr. Neely's behalf.
The ACLU boasts on its website:
In Wyatt v. Stickney (1972) and Wyatt v. Aderholt (1974), attorney Bruce Ennis challenged the conditions of admission for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities, resulting in a significant reduction in the number of institutional residents. It led to
And there is no doubt that these “drastic cuts” have led to people like Neely becoming homeless.
If Neely had been institutionalized, he would have survived.
