Family and friends of Michael Jackson's lookalike who died of suffocation in the New York subway call for justice

Protest for the death of Jordan Neely, this Thursday in New York. EDUARDO MUNOZ (REUTERS)

The 24-year-old ex-marine who killed a double of Michael Jackson on Monday in a New York subway car has been identified by several local media as Daniel J. Penny, although the authorities have not confirmed the affiliation.

The young man, a Long Island resident who served four years in the Marines, until 2021, has not been arrested or charged in connection with the incident, despite the fact that authorities have determined that it was a homicide, without entering into considerations about the intent or guilt of the author.

Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Jackson impersonator, suffocated to death when the ex-marine applied a restraint to placate him, after the impersonator, diagnosed with mental disorders, rioted the car asking for food and yelling that he was ready to die.

The victim is black, lived on the street and had a record for minor crimes, such as sneaking into the subway without a ticket or disturbing public order.

The attacker, who is white, was questioned after the train arrived at the station and was released without charge.

The event has sparked several street protests and reopened the debate on the intersection of public safety and mental health, the neglect of which is a problem to which the authorities have not yet found a solution.

Four days later, the fact that no one has been arrested or charged has fueled a controversy that is getting fatter by the minute, while the specter of racial discrimination looms over the case.

Relatives, activists and companions in misfortune on the streets of Neely clamor for justice to be done although the Manhattan prosecutor, Alvin Bragg - the same one who indicted Donald Trump for accounting fraud in April - has warned against any haste.

His office continues to analyze the event based on the forensic report, according to which death was caused by "neck compression";

viewing video images and interviews with witnesses.

According to local media, including the

, the ex-marine would have hired an old rival of Bragg's as a lawyer.

In the local media, there seems to be no other topic these days than the sad end of Neely, known for his imitations of the singer in subway stations and in Times Square, the city's kilometer zero, where he has been performing since at least 2009. The astonishment of the majority of public opinion that the man who, helped by two other travelers, tackled him by holding him by the neck for three minutes that turned out to be fatal, has not yet been arrested, and the criticism of the lukewarmness of the mayor, Eric Adams, is added. , when condemning the event.

Adams asked for prudence, because "there are many things that we do not know about what happened in the wagon."

Much clearer has been the governor of New York, also a Democrat Kathy Hochul, in demanding responsibilities.

“It's horrible, it was made very clear that [the victim] was not going to hurt anyone.

The video of three individuals holding her to her last breath, I would say was a very extreme response” to the danger that Neely represented.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) described what happened as a "public execution," which led to another of her scuffles with the mayor.

AOC also deplored the media coverage of the event: "Because Jordan was homeless and cried for food...the killer is protected with passive headlines and no charges."

Protesters ask that the ex-marine be charged, this Thursday before the Manhattan prosecutor's office. JUSTIN LANE (EFE)

The car on the F line of the subway in which the event occurred did not yet have surveillance cameras, despite the 2022 plan of the MTA, the metropolitan transportation authority, to install them in the 6,455 in operation, at the rate of two cameras per wagon, with a very clear objective: to increase security in the underground, a periodic scene of violent acts.

Yes, there are cameras, 10,000 in total, in each of the 472 stations of the New York subway network.

The district attorney's office analyzes a video recorded by a passenger in the carriage to appreciate how the ex-marine applied the aforementioned immobilization maneuver, which some police departments have prohibited as dangerous, while two other passengers held Neely by the arms.

The caution Bragg and Adams recommend is because the video evidence at this time would not support a murder charge, which under New York law requires the perpetrator to show intent to kill.

Instead, prosecutors could consider second-degree murder, or reckless homicide, or criminally negligent homicide, a misdemeanor.

Prosecutors will also need to show that the people who strangled and restrained Neely had no legal justification for doing so, that is, they were not acting reasonably in self-defense.

The victim's father, Andre Zachery, continues to request answers from the authorities and a culprit with a name and surname.

One of her alleged victims told the

on Thursday that Neely "should have been in rehab" and not abandoned on the street.

And one of his aunts claimed that the young man was never the same after the murder of his mother.

Christie Neely died, when her son was about 16 years old, strangled by her partner.

Her body appeared in a suitcase thrown on the side of a Bronx highway.

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