One NYC Subway Killing: An American Rorschach Test with Anand Giridharadas
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What happened during the six-minute Jordan Neely and Daniel Penny subway encounter?
Hello Pod Squad. Welcome back to We Can Do Hard Things. This is Amanda. And today, right now. It is Monday May. First, two thousand twenty three. In Manhattan, New York On the uptown Queensbound F train. Departing Second Avenue. On this subway car number 9774, there are a couple of 17-year-old high school students, a mom with a stroller and her five-year-old, several other folks, and Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old US Marine veteran from the suburbs on his way to the gym. At 223 PM, Thirty year old Jordan Neely enters the subway car. He appears agitated and almost immediately begins yelling a version of I don't have food, I don't have drink, I'm effed up, I don't mind going to jail and getting life in prison, I'm ready to die.
He throws his jacket on the floor. He does not have a weapon, but makes half lunge movements towards the passengers. He does not actually touch anyone, but gets really close, about six inches away with his half lunges. One person there has experienced many things on the subway, but nothing as frightening as this. Others are genuinely terrified. One of the teenagers buryed. Her face in the other's torso out of fear. Some others on the train do not feel they are in immediate danger. All of this happens within 30 seconds. Daniel Penny, the ex-Marine, asks another passenger to hold the AirPods he's been wearing, approaches Neely from behind, grabs him around the neck, and takes him to the floor in a chokehold.
Two other men. also restrain Neely, mostly by grabbing his arms or legs. Less than thirty seconds after Penny puts Neely in the hold, the train doors open. We are now at the Broadway Lafayette station. no longer trapped on a moving subway car. almost all the passengers run out of the car. But Penny does not leave, and he does not release Neely. He continues to restrain him on the floor. Penny has had Neely in the hold for about two minutes total, 90 seconds of this after the train doors open, when a bystander journalist Juan Alberto Vasquez starts filming on his phone. In the near empty subway car, Neely is moving, kicking, attempting to free himself. At one point, Neely taps an onlooker's leg and gestures.
At another point, Neely manages to get an arm free. One witness says, He's dying. You need to let him go. Others call for the police. Another witness warns Penny if he doesn't let him go, he's going to catch a murder charge. As time passes, Neely's movements diminish. Three minutes and ten seconds into Vasquez's video, Neely ceases making purposeful notices. Movements, just involuntary twitches. Penny continues holding Neely around the neck for 51 seconds after Neely's last purposeful movement. After releasing Neely, Penny and the others place him on his side. Police and emergency personnel arrive. Neely is unconscious and unresponsive. Resuscitation is attempted. Neely is transported to a hospital. He is pronounced dead.
Six minutes on a New York City train. Six minutes of real life, of real people, of fear and crisis and confusion, of life. and death. Six minutes, which were instantly fomented, stripped of humanity, and manipulated into one-dimensional comic strip characters of morality and certainty for political advantage. Before the medical examiner determines that Neely's cause of death is homicide caused by compression of the neck, before any charges are brought, Before the jury hears a speck of evidence in the manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide cases against Penny, those six minutes are immediately seized and compressed and polarized and projected into symbols of truth about America. In one version of this truth, Daniel Penny is a courageous protector.
Jordan Neely is a dangerous protein. Dangerous criminal allowed to terrorize people, who would have done worse had Penny not been so brave. Neely is a symbol of urban decay. What happens when leftist politics defang the police so that everyday Americans have to live in fear while criminals are protected? Penny wasn't merely justified using force. He was a hero, rescuing law-abiding citizens who'd been a
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What happened during the six-minute Jordan Neely and Daniel Penny subway encounter?
0:00–12:32
2
How did the Jordan Neely case become a polarized political symbol?
12:32–28:33
3
How can curiosity help us understand people across political divides?
28:33–39:01
4
How did trauma and gaps in mental-health care shape Jordan Neely’s life?
39:01–44:35
5
How should cities balance personal autonomy with involuntary mental-health care?
44:35–55:30
6
What did the prosecution argue about Daniel Penny’s prolonged chokehold?
55:30–1:10:06
7
Why do Americans across the political spectrum feel abandoned by the system?
1:10:06–1:16:00
8
How can understanding shared fears help preserve democracy?
1:16:00–1:18:18
Speakers
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