Jordan Neely

So he wrote a book called Winners Take All years ago, looking at the dynamic of billionaires and philanthropy of using their money to embed and continue their own power rather than to build democracy.

And he has a new book out called Man in the Mirror, which looks at the Daniel Penny, Jordan Neely case in the New York subway years ago and looks at the question of who and where and how are cities for and where and how do we decide? And he's somebody who, as a journalist and then as a co-parent, as a father, as a man, is a game changer, um because of the topics he chooses to spend his gifts illuminating wow he sounds like a remarkable

man and i love he's amazing you just you you could have him on the show he's he's he's amazing he's a game changer he's absolute game changer i love it priya thank you so much for coming on i'm excited for you

thank you so much for having me and for um and for these great conversations i loved loved talking to the sports metaphors especially i appreciate what you do

And there's also a process, obviously, of jury selection that you can weed out the crazies, hopefully.

So, you know, I saw this case and I saw what the allegations were and I knew who Jordan Neely was and what he was capable of.

And I said, you know, look, we're going to get a reasonable jury of people that ride that subway and I'm going to put them inside that subway car.

That's what I'm going to do.

The difference is that, you know, in Danny's case, you know, he wasn't subject to the chokehold law.

I wasn't a police officer, you know.

no one died in omar's case um the evidence at trial was overwhelming that jordan neely didn't die because of anything daniel penny did but putting that aside you know this is not a homicide case oh you know omar would be the uh you know the the so-called victim in that case, you know, he's at the hospital and he complains of, you know, he's being treated for the injuries it caused himself when he punched out all the mirrors and the catering hall.

He was out of the box, which is anything that I, you know, my throat or anything like that.

In reality, it tends to mean confinement in a forensic psychiatric hospital.

People can read this quite very good book, The Best Minds, that I wrote about a bit in relation to the Jordan Neely, Daniel Penny, after the Daniel Penny verdict, which was not itself an insanity verdict.

But The Best Minds is about...

the anti-psychiatry movement and the trajectory of a friend of the author's who ultimately, who was severely schizophrenic and ultimately murdered his fiancee and was clearly and floridly insane.

in a chokehold to restrain him and killed him.

In telling the story of Daniel Penny and Jordan Neely and Jordan Neely's death, if you tell it well, it'll be a story about our cities.

It'll be a story about America in this age of unresolvable conflict.

It'll be a story about... who belongs, how we belong.

This is the 77 WABC Minicast.

When I'm breaking news, that Lawler along with Jordan Neely, who tried to kill people on a subway, both love Michael Jackson.

Why were you dressed up last week as Michael Jackson, Mike? What was that about?

Compare me to Jordan Neely.

Jesus.

Michael Jackson.

Yeah.

But you remember the Jordan Neely Daniel Penny case from the subway here, where a, a crazed...

A guy who was on the top 50 list of the most dangerous homeless people in the city, you know, had been in and out of social services, and completely tragic background, like, the whole nine yards.

But Daniel Penny, who was a veteran, was on the subway, saw how Jordan Neely was threatening all of these people, and he ended up restraining him and, and killed him in the end, and it was a big trial.

Yeah, and then he was prosecuted.

They were talking about prosecuting him, right?

There was also the issue of causation.

The reality is that the medical evidence in this case demonstrates that that Jordan Neely's death, while tragic, like any loss of life is tragic, was not caused by compression of the neck chokehold, as the medical examiner opined after they revised their medical report based on what we think was political pressure.

But Jordan Neely died of a combination of things, the amount of drugs in his system, his psychosis, a sickle cell trait that deprived his brain of oxygen.

So, you know, it's interesting to me because most people think of self-defense as being, you know, a normal course of action.

But in too many states that lean left and defend criminals or are light on crime, it's not as black and white as you think.

So what has this experience covering Luigi Mangione's case been like compared to some other cases?

Yeah, I mean, I think the thing I'll say is where this case started for me was actually during another high profile and very controversial trial, the trial of Daniel Penny, who was accused of choking Jordan Neely to death on the subway.

And it was actually while I was sitting in the courtroom at 100 Center Street waiting for jurors to make a decision in that case that we learned about Mr. Thompson being killed.

And, you know, I was in a room with like the entire, you know, press, court press, and we're all like learning this news in real time.

You know, he was working a part-time job using his GI Bill, uh, and getting, uh, and, and looking to, uh, get his education and make a life for himself after the Marines.

Unfortunately, um, he encountered, uh, an individual by the name of Jordan Neely, who was a, uh, to, to call him a recidivist offender would be to, to minimize it.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, he was really one of the city's most prolific, uh, criminals and, uh, one of the most dangerously psychotic individuals on the street.

Those aren't just my words, that's, you know, how he was listed in, uh, NYPD profiles and so forth.

And when Jordan Neely entered a subway in, in the afternoon in, in Manhattan when Danny was on his way back from class, uh, you know, he made very clear that his intention was to do harm, uh, uh, to the men, women, and children on that subway train.

Uh, Danny, you know, selflessly stepped in to subdue this individual.

Uh, unfortunately, um, in the aftermath of the encounter, uh, Jordan Neely died, and that's tragic-