On May 1, 2023, an encounter on a New York City subway train between unhoused man Jordan Neely and passenger Daniel Penny ended with Neely’s death. Neely, who had previously performed Michael Jackson impersonations for subway crowds, was in crisis that day, shouting threats and alarming fellow passengers. Penny, a white former Marine, responded by placing Neely in a chokehold that lasted six minutes and proved fatal. Video documentation of the incident became widely distributed, sparking national division over its meaning and implications.
Journalist Anand Giridharadas spent more than two years investigating the circumstances surrounding the encounter for his book Man in the Mirror: Hope, Struggle, and Belonging in an American City. Rather than accepting the competing narratives that emerged on social media, where Giridharadas notes “human beings become caricatures,” he sought to understand the deeper context of both men’s lives and the systems that shaped their actions. Giridharadas argues that both Neely and Penny experienced a profound sense of abandonment—Neely by social services and mental health systems, and Penny by law enforcement institutions he believed should have prevented the situation.
Neely’s history revealed a complex trajectory through the criminal justice system. His interactions with police spanned more than a decade, beginning with minor infractions related to homelessness such as turnstile jumping and sleeping in public spaces. Over time, his record grew more serious, including assault charges. Rather than imprisonment, Neely was placed in an alternative-to-incarceration program at a Bronx rehabilitation facility. However, he departed from the program without authorization, and despite subsequent encounters with outreach workers and police at Coney Island weeks before his death, authorities failed to apprehend him on the outstanding warrant.
In December 2024, Penny was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide after a jury could not reach consensus on a second-degree manslaughter charge, which prosecutors subsequently dismissed. The verdict was followed by invitations to high-profile events and a job offer from a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Giridharadas suggests that the broader pattern of systemic abandonment—leaving individuals without adequate mental health support, housing, or law enforcement presence—creates conditions where ordinary people feel compelled to address crises themselves, often with tragic consequences.
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