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NYPD looking for more protesters from Saturday's Neely protest on subway tracks
By
Stephen Nessen
Published May 7, 2023
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Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images
By
Stephen Nessen
Published May 7, 2023
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The NYPD is looking for six more people accused of trespassing after walking on the subway tracks in a protest for Jordan Neely Saturday night.
Police already arrested 13 people who climbed down into the roadbed of the Q train at the Lexington Avenue/ 63rd Street Station. They were charged with various crimes including resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, assault, trespassing and unlawful interference of a railroad train while protesting the killing of Neely, 30, who was choked to death on a train last week.
Daniel Penny, the man seen in a viral video putting Neely in the fatal chokehold, has not been charged with a crime. The Manhattan District Attorney and the NYPD are still investigating.
Photos of protesters stopping trains drew comparisons to a photo taken by Rick Flores in 1987 when protesters stopped trains on multiple lines at a time of racial tension in the city.
The MTA said on Saturday the agency was first alerted about people on the tracks at 6 p.m. A train pulled into the station 12 minutes later, but stopped before entering the station. Power to the electrified third rail wasn’t turned off until 10 minutes after that.
At 6:48 p.m. the MTA reported the tracks were clear and power was restored. The Q train that had been waiting pulled into the station. Full service was back by 6:54 p.m. MTA experts were not available on Sunday to comment on why they waited more than 20 minutes to shut off power to the dangerous third rail.
"Jumping on tracks is dangerous, reckless and can be life threatening,” New York City Transit President Richard Davey wrote in a statement. “While peaceful protest has always been part of American fabric, endangering transit workers and other responders, while also delaying New Yorkers just trying to get where they need to go, by deliberately risking contact with an electrified third rail, is unacceptable."
In a release, the NYPD noted that the six people it’s searching for “fled the location to parts unknown.”
Tagged
Jordan Neely
public safety
manhattan
transportation
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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