The Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a fiery eulogy Friday that included an indictment of law enforcement and the city’s mental health services at the funeral of Jordan Neely, the 30 year old who died earlier this month after a fellow passenger on the subway put him in a chokehold. That passenger, 24-year-old Daniel Penny, was released by police after the incident and remained free until he was charged with second-degree manslaughter last week. On Friday, Sharpton said that if the race of the two men were reversed — Penny is white while Neely is Black — that would not have happened. “We can’t live in a city where you can choke me to death with no provocation, no weapon, no threat and you go home and sleep in your bed while my family has to put me into a cemetery,” Sharpton said to the crowd gathered at Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem. “There must be equal justice under the law.” Sharpton repeatedly criticized the decision to let Penny leave the police precinct — a call that was made jointly between the NYPD and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, according to testimony from police brass at a City Council hearing a day earlier. He also took aim at the mayor and the city’s response to homelessness and mental health, arguing that the administration needed new policies conceived of jointly with advocates and family members of Neely, who struggled with mental illness and had been yelling at passengers on the train May 1 before he was choked by Penny. “In the name of Jordan, we’re going to turn this city around to serve the homeless,” he said. While several politicians were in attendance, Mayor Eric Adams was not among them. The Neely family has criticized the mayor’s response and had asked him not to come, a wish Adams’ office said Friday it wanted to respect. “Jordan Neely’s life mattered and his death was a tragedy,” mayoral spokesperson Fabien Levy said in a statement. “Mayor Adams is thinking about Jordan and his family today, and wanted to ensure that Jordan was the sole focus at today’s service.” In the nearly two weeks between when Neely was killed and when Penny was charged, Adams had declined to comment on the case, saying that he did not want to impact the outcome of the trial and wanted to wait until the district attorney concluded his investigation. It is a policy he has continued to maintain, even after Penny’s arraignment. “I don't want, if this case goes to trial or anywhere further, I don't want someone talk about changing venues … and the DA will make the determination on how to handle this case,” the mayor said last week.
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