An assault victim of the “dangerous” homeless man choked to death by a Marine on a northbound F train this week ripped the city for not forcing her attacker to get the mental health treatment he clearly needed.
Anne Mitcheltree said she was randomly punched in the head in June 2021 by Jordan Neely inside S.K. Deli Market on 2nd Avenue in the East Village. The attack caused swelling and substantial pain but left no permanent damage.
After police arrested Neely, Mitcheltree, 65, assumed her aggressor would face charges and psychiatric lockup.
“They told me we have him, he’s in custody, we’re going to press charges,” Mitcheltree, a creative arts therapist with New York City Health + Hospitals for over 40 years, told The Post.
“I thought the judge would have forced him to take psychiatric meds, but it seems like he bounced out.”
Law enforcement sources said that Neely had 42 prior arrests on his long rap sheet — most recently for punching a 67-year-old woman in the East Village in November 2021, which landed him in jail for over a year.
An arrest warrant for Neely had been issued on Feb. 23, although details of the ongoing case were not immediately available.
“I don’t know why he didn’t end up in Bronx Psychiatric Center,” Mitcheltree said, adding, “This is a common understanding in psychiatry, that agitated people who are aggressive get themselves killed.”
What we know about NYC subway choking victim Jordan Neely
Who is Neely?
Jordan Neely, 30, a homeless man, was strangled aboard a northbound F train just before 2:30 p.m. on May 1, according to police.
He reportedly started acting erratically on the train and harassing other passengers before being restrained and ultimately choked by a straphanger, identified as a 24-year-old Marine from Queens.
The Marine, who was seen on video applying the chokehold, was taken into custody and later released but the DA is mulling charges, which could include involuntary manslaughter, according to experts.
Why is there fallout over Neely’s death?
The city medical examiner ruled Neely’s death a homicide, noting he died due to “compression of neck (chokehold).” This will be weighed during the investigation into whether charges will be brought for Neely’s death.
Neely’s aunt told The Post that he became a “complete mess” following the brutal murder of his mother in 2007. She noted he was schizophrenic while suffering from PTSD and depression.
“The whole system just failed him. He fell through the cracks of the system,” Carolyn Neely said.
Law enforcement sources said Neely had “numerous” arrests on his record, including for drugs, disorderly conduct, and fare beating.
At the time of his death, Neely had a warrant out for his arrest for a November 2021 case in which he was accused of assaulting a 67-year-old woman in the East Village, the sources said.
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Mayor Eric Adams has said it’s important for the DA to complete the investigation into Neely’s death and not rush to conclusions.
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“After assaulting all these women in all these cases, and knowing that he was dangerous, they just let him go, to the point that he was murdered in NoHo,” Mitcheltree said.
Neely, 30, first fell into a depression after his mother was murdered by her partner in 2007, and later battled schizophrenia and PTSD, according to friends and family.
At least a dozen of the homeless man’s encounters with police were linked to his mental health issues, and officers repeatedly dropped him off at the hospital or a shelter, sources said.
Neely’s aggression continued the day before his death, when he allegedly tried to push a straphanger into the subway tracks at the Broadway-Lafayette station in Lower Manhattan.
“This man jumped on me, grabbed my shoulders, and pushed me towards the tracks Sunday night at this very station,” a Reddit user posted Wednesday about the terrifying incident, which they declined to discuss further.
“I was able to run away but he got physical and chased other people standing on the platform before getting on an uptown train.
“This whole thing is so sad.”
The next day, Neely appeared to be having a mental episode on an F train at the same subway stop just before 2:30 p.m., shouting at passengers that he was hungry and didn’t “care if I go to jail, and if they give me life in prison,” according to witnesses and police.
Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old Marine from West Islip, was recorded on video with his arms wrapped around Neely in a fatal chokehold, which lasted for several minutes.
Two other passengers helped restrain Neely, and Penny was taken into custody by police before being released without charges.
The city medical examiner ruled Neely’s death a homicide, and the district attorney’s office is currently investigating whether to bring criminal charges against Penny for the chokehold.
A Manhattan grand jury could be convened as early as next week to determine whether to indict Penny.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Georgia Worrell
