Ocasio-Cortez says death of man on subway was ‘murder’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) weighed in on the death of a man in New York who was placed in a headlock by another subway passenger, saying the man “was murdered.”

The death of Jordan Neely, 30, has sparked outrage online, with footage showing him on the floor of the train in a headlock by a U.S. Marine veteran, who tackled him after the man was shouting at other passengers.

The city’s medical examiner has classified his death as a homicide and the manner as a chokehold, though said it would leave any determination on culpability to the legal system.

“Jordan Neely was murdered,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Wednesday. “But [because] Jordan was houseless and crying for food in a time when the city is raising rents and stripping services to militarize itself while many in power demonize the poor, the murderer gets protected w/ passive headlines + no charges.”

Neely, who was homeless, was reported to have been behaving aggressively toward other subway passengers when the 24-year-old Marine veteran put him in a headlock while another passenger held him to the ground. Video of the altercation has circulated online, and medical responders could not resuscitate Neely at the scene.

The Marine veteran was taken into custody but released without charges and has not been publicly identified.

The Manhattan district attorney is investigating the incident, the office confirmed to The Hill on Wednesday. A spokesperson said investigators would review the report from the medical examiner and that the case was being handled by “senior, experienced prosecutors.”

But progressives have slammed the response by some city leaders. Mayor Eric Adams (D) said in a statement Wednesday that because there were a lot of unknowns, he was going to restrain from commenting further on the case. 

“However, we do know that there were serious mental health issues in play here, which is why our administration has made record investments in providing care to those who need it,” he said.

Ocasio-Cortez criticized the mayor for not condemning what she said was a “public murder.”

“This honestly feels like a new low: not being able to clearly condemn a public murder because the victim was of a social status some would deem ‘too low’ to care about,” she said.

“I have yet to hear a real explanation from any official hesitating to condemn the killing of Jordan Neely about what makes condemning this violence so ‘complicated,'” Ocasio-Cortez said in a separate tweet. “Killing is wrong. Killing the poor is wrong. Killing the mentally ill is wrong. Why is that so hard to say?”

This story was updated at 1:53 pm ET.