A homeless subway rider died after a former Marine put him in a chokehold in the latest instance of 'vigilante justice' plaguing the nation: former prosecutor

• A man, ID'd as a former Marine, put a homeless subway rider in a fatal chokehold on a New York City car on Monday.
• Police said they are investigating the incident but had not made any arrests as of Wednesday night.

A homeless subway rider died this week after a man identified by reports as a former Marine put the man in a lethal chokehold on Monday, prompting outrage and indignation over what two former prosecutors described as the most recent incident in a trend of "vigilante justice."

Bystander video showed an unnamed 24-year-old white man putting Jordan Neely, a Black man, into a chokehold, which led to his death. The nearly four-minute video was published on social media, prompting protests on the subway platform where the incident occurred.

Juan Alberto Vasquez, the eyewitness who shot the video, told The New York Times that Neely was screaming about being hungry and thirsty prior to the Monday subway encounter, but did not assault anyone on the train.

"I don't mind going to jail and getting life in prison," Neely said, according to Vasquez. "I'm ready to die."

Neely, 30, who was a former Michael Jackson street performer, according to local reports, was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Police said they are investigating, but authorities have yet to press charges, even after speaking with, and subsequently releasing, the former Marine on Monday evening.

Late Wednesday, the medical examiner's office determined Neely died from "compression of neck" and classified his death as a homicide, according to multiple reports. A spokesperson for the New York Police Department told Insider a verbal dispute between the 30-year-old and 24-year-old males on the subway car escalated into a physical altercation, during which the former lost consciousness.

No arrests had been made in the case as of Wednesday evening.

Former prosecutors told Insider it's likely the case could be argued as self-defense, serving as another possible example in a string of cases in which a citizen decides to take matters into their own hands.

The former Marine will likely claim he acted in self-defense, the former prosecutors speculated

That potential argument, as well as the initial uncertainty of the cause of death, is probably why police did not immediately arrest the former Marine, Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers and a former federal prosecutor said.

In New York, a person can only use deadly physical force against another person if they have a reasonable belief that an attacker is also using or about to use deadly force.

"The force used, in my opinion, was excessive under the circumstances," Rahmani told Insider.

Joshua Ritter, a former Los Angeles County prosecutor and partner with El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers, said police were likely interviewing other witnesses to determine whether or not the chokehold was an act of self-defense.

He specifically pointed to Neely's alleged remarks about not minding if he gets life in prison and about being ready to die.

"That could very easily and reasonably be interpreted as a threat to others," Ritter told Insider.

He also noted that no other passengers intervened — and seemed sympathetic to the former Marine — suggesting they may have felt "he acted reasonably given the circumstances and that this was an unfortunate consequence."

The deadly encounter on the F train comes amid a recent wave of incidents in recent weeks that has seen people harming and sometimes killing strangers, neighbors, and even children over seemingly small mistakes or misunderstandings, most often with guns.

"Personally, I think self-defense is used far too often in this country to justify violence," Rahmani said. "We're seeing it a lot."

It's a trend that has only been on the rise in recent years, Rahmani added.

"Years ago, Trayvon Martin was an anomaly," he said, referring to the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Black teenager by George Zimmerman. "But now people using deadly force in many circumstances is very accepted."

Self-defense as vigilante justice

Rahmani also pointed to the recent trend of vigilante justice.

From Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenage gunman who was acquitted after fatally shooting two men during a Black Lives Matter protest in August 2020, to the death of Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old Black man who was gunned down while jogging during a hate crime in Georgia that same year, Americans are increasingly taking the law into their own hands to devastating and disparate results.

"Vigilante justice is a huge problem," Rahmani said.

Ritter agreed that this case also seemed to be a case of a citizen deciding to take matters into their own hands. He said people are especially likely to be on edge in environments like the New York City subway, which has become a focal point for conversations about increasing crime and policing.

"People are just feeling like if they don't handle it, no one will," Ritter said.

Both former prosecutors noted that it's common for police not to immediately make an arrest in a situation like this, where there are several unknowns and perhaps not enough probable cause off the bat to say that a crime has been committed.

Still, Rahmani said he thinks it's likely that prosecutors will ultimately end up bringing charges in this case.

A representative for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said its investigation into the incident is being handled by "senior, experienced prosecutors."

"This is a solemn and serious matter that ended in the tragic loss of Jordan Neely's life. As part of our rigorous ongoing investigation, we will review the Medical Examiner's report, assess all available video and photo footage, identify and interview as many witnesses as possible, and obtain additional medical records," the spokesperson said.