Mayor Adams attempted on Thursday to explain his reticence on Daniel Penny, the man who put Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold last week on a subway train, saying any remarks he makes could come back to haunt a potential prosecution.
Adams, who took questions in City Hall a day after delivering a speech about Neely, said he’s remained silent about Penny out of a concern that whatever he says could potentially be viewed as tainting the case.
”It’s important not to interfere as the mayor of the city in those parts that the police department has yet to take their action. The police respond to me, and I don’t want — if this case goes to trial or anywhere further — I don’t want someone talking about changing venues, that the mayor tainted [the case],” said Adams, a former NYPD captain.
“I dealt with the things that are within my span of control that I’ve been advocating for from the Day 1 that I got into office, and the DA will make the determination on how to handle this case, and I respect that, I respect DA Bragg’s job and what he has to do.”
Neely, a Black homeless man who was known for his Michael Jackson impersonations, was accosting passengers on an F train on May 1, and, according to witnesses, said during his tirade that he was “ready to die.”
Penny, a white former Marine, intervened by putting Neely in a chokehold for several minutes until he went limp.
The medical examiner’s office has ruled Neely’s death a homicide, and NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said Wednesday that the department is still interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence. Penny’s attorney’s have said that he acted in self defense.
Left-leaning elected officials have been attacking Adams for days for not speaking more forcefully about Neely’s death and for remaining silent on Penny’s role in it. But the mayor has refrained from speaking about Penny, as he did Wednesday during his 14-minute City Hall address on Neely.
On Thursday, he elaborated on why he’s focusing more of his attention on public policy — and relatively little of it on the fact criminal charges haven’t yet been brought in the case.
“I need to prevent. And let’s be clear, let’s be honest — there are more Jordans out there,” he said during his Q-and-A. “We need to make sure we prevent these things from happening. That is within my span of control.”
Despite the rationale he offered, Adams has previously weighed in publicly on at least one pending case within the NYPD’s purview.
Last July, after 35-year-old Austin Simon was knifed to death by Harlem bodega clerk Jose Alba, Adams spoke up for the clerk, saying at the time that he acted in self-defense.
Adams also suggested that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was wrong for bringing a case against Alba, who the mayor described at the time as “an innocent, hardworking New Yorker that was doing his job.”
Ultimately, Bragg dropped the case against Alba, a move Adams called “the right decision.”
But this week and last, when it comes to the Neely case, Adams has suggested that his role in such matters is more narrowly defined and has stuck largely to talking about public policy prescriptions such as passing a law that clarifies government’s ability to involuntarily hold mentally ill people for inpatient treatment.
“People who are dealing with a severe mental health illness can’t make the determination [of] what type of care they want. When we rolled this out, everyone was attacking us, just about,” he said.