Jordan Neely had a troubling history of violent attacks on straphangers in New York City before the disturbed man reportedly threatened passengers and Marine vet Daniel Penny allegedly put him in a fatal chokehold.
The 30-year-old vagrant, who once performed as a Michael Jackson impersonator, had been arrested dozens of times – including most recently for vicious assaults on subway riders, court records show.
In 2021, Neely socked a 67-year-old woman as she exited the Bowery station in the East Village in Lower Manhattan.
The woman sustained a broken nose, a fractured orbital bone, and "bruising, swelling and substantial pain to the back of her head" in the Nov. 12 attack, according to a criminal complaint.
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Neely pleaded guilty to felony assault Feb. 9 in exchange for a 15-month alternative-to-incarceration program, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. He was supposed to stay in a treatment facility and abstain from drugs.
If he had completed the program, the felony assault would have been reduced to a misdemeanor, but he skipped a compliance court date and left the facility. A warrant was issued for his arrest on Feb. 23. It wasn't immediately clear how long he spent in jail awaiting the resolution of the assault case.
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The troubled man, who has a history of mental illness and drug addiction, had a difficult upbringing. His mother was strangled by her boyfriend in 2007 and found stuffed in a suitcase in the Bronx.
Court records show that as an adult Neely regularly lashed out at strangers on the subway and on the street.
From January 2020 to August 2021, he was arrested for public lewdness after pulling down his pants and exposing himself to a female stranger, misdemeanor assault for hitting a woman in the face, and criminal contempt for violating a restraining order. All three cases were dismissed as part of his Feb. 9 plea deal.
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In June 2019, Neely attacked Filemon Castillo Baltazar, 68, on the platform of the W. 4th St. Station in Greenwich Village, according to the court papers.
"Out of nowhere, he punched me in the face," the victim told the New York Daily News. He said he'd seen Neely before looking for food in the trash bins.
One month prior, he hit a man so hard in the face that he broke his nose on the platform of the Broadway-Lafayette station – the same subway stop where he died four years later.
For both 2019 cases, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to six months in jail.
Outreach workers were so familiar with Neely that he was on the city's "Top 50" list – an internal roster kept by the Department of Homeless Services of people living on the street who were most in need of help, the New York Post reported. He had cycled in and out of hospitals and jails for years.
Neely's tragic death unfolded May 1 at bout 2:30 p.m. after he boarded an F train screaming and threatening passengers, according to a freelance journalist who recorded the confrontation.
Penny grabbed him from behind, dragged him to the ground and allegedly wrapped his arm around his neck until he lost consciousness and died. Penny hasn't been criminally charged.
Penny's attorneys, Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff, argued that Penny had acted in self-defense to protect himself and other riders and could not have anticipated Neely's unfortunate death.
Donte Mills and Lennon Edwards, lawyers for Neely's family, said Penny needs to be in prison for the killing.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said his office is investigating Neely's death, which has sparked public outrage and widespread protests across the city.
More than a dozen demonstrators have been arrested.
The Manhattan DA's Office is asking anyone who witnessed the fatal encounter or has information about it to call 212-335-9040.
Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
