Charging Daniel Penny in Jordan Neely’s death is just a start

Jordan Neely’s killer was arrested on Friday in New York and charged with second-degree manslaughter. Irrespective of how that case seems, there’s little purpose to really feel a way of reduction.

Neely, a 30-year-old unhoused man well-known on the subway system, was begging for meals and water final week in “the best metropolis on this planet” in “the best nation on this planet.”

If there have been ever a spot a determined individual like Neely might get assist, you’ll assume New York Metropolis can be it. As an alternative, he was killed. Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old ex-Marine, crushed Neely’s windpipe whereas attempting to guard individuals who won’t have been in any quick hazard. It’s all terrible. Neely’s lifeless physique left mendacity in his personal feces on the ground of the F practice. A tragic ending to a narrative already riddled with tragedy.

When Neely was simply 14, his mom was murdered by her boyfriend, stuffed in a suitcase and left on the aspect of a street. He went into the foster care system afterward. He struggled with psychological sickness. He was arrested repeatedly and reported to social providers greater than 40 occasions. And whereas he had entered a number of care conditions, he was additionally identified to vanish for lengthy stretches, hindering remedy.

The guilt or innocence of his killer will probably be determined by the justice system, now that Penny has been charged with second-degree manslaughter. He faces as much as 15 years in jail if convicted. Given the races of the boys, it’s straightforward to see how this improvement may very well be lumped along with different examples of racial injustice.

However whereas the racial part of the story is tough to disregard, I don’t really feel this can be a story about systemic racism as a lot as it’s about our failing psychological well being system. Race is definitely a measurable variable on the subject of entry to healthcare generally. Nevertheless, the reality is Neely did obtain remedy. On quite a few events.

Ten years in the past he admitted himself to Mount Sinai Morningside after telling cops he was listening to voices. Three years later police introduced him to the hospital as a result of he was suicidal. Neely was on New York Metropolis’s quick “high 50” listing of homeless individuals in severe want of care.

Neely obtained assist from the Bowery Residents’ Committee. He received assist. Simply not the type that may have saved his life.

That could be a tragedy for the Neely household. However with the backdrop of the rising variety of mass shootings dedicated by individuals in want of psychological well being remedy, the way through which we assist individuals like Neely must be considered with a a lot wider lens — and with rather more urgency. The form of urgency the nation took when the Bush administration greenlighted the Transportation Safety Administration shortly after 9/11. The form of urgency that finds tens of millions of {dollars} to ship assist to Ukraine.

As tragic because the story of Neely is, it’s not uncommon. Most cities have mentally ailing individuals residing on the streets. And typically they die there. Typically they hurt others, as Neely did. And typically they’re those who’re harmed, as he additionally was. Neely didn’t need to die, that a lot we all know.

If nothing extra comes out of this than a conviction, his loss of life turns into much more tragic.