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The death of Jordan Neely on a subway train at the hands of a fellow straphanger is still under investigation. The unidentified former Marine who tangled with Neely was trying to subdue the homeless man, who witnesses said was acting belligerently and screaming at other passengers. Should the Good Samaritan be charged with committing murder, and what are authorities looking at as they make their decision? Retired NYPD first-grade detective and security expert Michael Sapracione joined 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program to answer those questions, starting with what video of the stranglehold on Neely tells us.
“We haven’t seen the entire video,” Sapraicone told Berman and Riedel. “This is a very difficult situation, and some people don’t understand. As soon as they hear the word ‘homicide’, they believe that there’s a murder here. This doesn’t mean that there’s a murder. There has to be a cause of death and a method of death, and that’s what we’re looking at right now.”
“I would imagine this would and should go to a grand jury to make their decision,” Sapracione further postulated, adding that he agrees with Mayor Adams calling for people to allow the investigation to reach its conclusion instead of rushing to judgement. “If it doesn’t go to grand jury, and the district attorney makes a decision either way, I think we’re going to see a lot of unrest with this. I think the system needs to lay out. We live in a democracy. I think that’s what we need to do in order to figure this out right now.”