NYC NOW - May 2, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

Mayor Adams reports that police data show the majority of those arrested Tuesday night for protesting at Columbia and CUNY were students. In other news, a Manhattan landlord already jailed for failing to complete hundreds of court-ordered repairs now faces additional legal problems. WNYC's David Brand reports on criminal charges that were unsealed Wednesday. Additionally, six Manhattan officials are urging the Department of Transportation to fill a gap in the protected bike lane along Sixth Avenue. Finally, a year after subway rider Jordan Neely died when another passenger, Daniel Penny, put him in a chokehold on the F train, the case remains a focal point in politically polarized debates about homelessness, mental illness, and the fine line between danger and discomfort in shared spaces like train cars. WNYC’s David Furst speaks with reporter Samantha Max to learn more.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, May 2nd. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. More about protests, campus protests, Mayor Adams says police data show the majority of those arrested Tuesday night for protesting at Columbia University and CUNY were students. But it appears as though that over 40% of those who participated in Columbia and CUNY were not from the school and they were outsiders. The mayor has repeatedly blamed outside agitators for fomenting the protest, but has not provided credible evidence that any significant number of protesters were not affiliated with the schools. The NYPD arrested nearly 300 people at Columbia and City College. Columbia requested the police to come in after protesters occupied a campus building, Hamilton Hall.

A Manhattan landlord who's in jail for failing to complete hundreds of court-ordered repairs now faces a whole new set of legal problems. W.A.'s David Brand reports on criminal charges unsealed yesterday. Prosecutors accused Daniel Obshalom of harassing tenants so they'd give up their rent-stabilized apartments. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says Obshalom neglected as been. buildings to drive tenants out and endangered children living in them. These are horrific conditions. Defendant knowingly and purposely refused to correct in a concentrated effort to harass his rent-stabilized tenants and at least five buildings in Manhattan.

Obe Shalom is currently serving a 60-day sentence at Rikers Island in a civil case brought by the city. He refused to answer questions after his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court. Obe Shalom's attorney did not respond to WNM.I. request for comment. Six Manhattan officials are urging the Department of Transportation to fill a gap in the protected bike lane along Manhattan's 6th Avenue. The bike lane disappears for about 20 blocks from Canal Street to 9th Street.

Councilmember Eric Botcher is among those who signed the letter to the DOT. Botcher says he's experienced the danger of biking in that stretch himself. You know you're going to be in danger because you're going to have to be riding in the same lane as speeding traffic cars and trucks. A spokesperson for the DOT says the department expects an expansion of the bike lane but did not say when. Sixty-eight and mostly sunny. Mostly sunny today and a warm 82 and we start cooling off into the 60s tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. Stay close. There's more after the break.

For WNYC, I'm Jene Pierre. Subway rider Jordan Neely died a year ago on Wednesday, after another passenger put him in a chokehold on the F train. His loved ones say he was homeless and had mental illness. In the years since, the case became a litmus test for politically polarized debates about homelessness, mental illness, and the blurry line between danger and discomfort in shared spaces like train cars. My colleague David First spoke with reporter Samantha Max to learn more. Sam, just remind us about what happened one year ago today. Well, there's still a lot that we don't know even a year later, for those of us who were not in the train car that day.

But based off of the court records that have emerged, witness testimony, video, what we know is that Jordan Neely boarded the F train on the Lower East Side. witnesses have said that he threw down his jacket and said something along the lines of the fact that he was hungry and thirsty, that he was willing to die or go to jail. And then Daniel Penny, this other rider on the train came up behind him, put him in a chokehold and took him to the ground. Prosecutors say that Penny kept his arm around Neely's neck for about six minutes, including after the train had already pulled into the next station. And then the medical examiner determined that nearly died from compression of the neck. Police initially let Daniel Penny go after a brief interview. That led to protests and calls for criminal charges after, you know, someone who had been on the train that day who had recorded part of the incident, uploaded a video onto the internet that went viral.

So it just sparked this huge, you know, response. in the city. It really went viral around the world. And the Manhattan DA ultimately charged Penny about a week and a half later with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. And Sam, I understand that you spoke with someone who was there that day, who has also experienced homelessness. Yes. So Johnny Grima is someone who I had spoken with just shortly after this incident happened last year. And then I followed up with him again this week. So Johnny Grima, Grima was unhoused for much of his life. He's a known advocate for the city's homeless.

And he just happened to be on that same subway train as Neely. He was one car away. And when the train pulled into the Broadway Lafayette station in Soho, he stumbled into a commotion on the platform. And you can see in this video that went viral, him walking into the train car and trying to get people on the train to, you know, turn Neely onto his side. but then he quickly walked away after that, and he says that that's a decision that he still regrets a year later.

If I could travel back in time in a time machine and be on the platform now at the same time of arrival that I got there last year, what I would do is I would enter the train car and lie and say that I'm a doctor, you know, I'm a registered doctor, and I would make great effort to remove Daniel Penny from around this. man's neck. Hmm, oh my goodness. Yeah, and you know, Greenma told me that this, everything that's happened, that, you know, his memories from that day, it just all really took a toll on him. He was at protests after it happened. And he says that he was arrested at a protest. He testified before the

grand jury. And just all the stress around this incident, he says, caused him for the first time in his life to go on antidepressants. Okay, how does Daniel Penny's camp describe what happened? So Daniel Penny has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. He and his attorneys released a video after he was arrested saying, you know, he was responding to a threat on the train that he didn't intend to kill Neely. And also that, you know, other passengers on the train were scared. This is something that is backed up in, you know, some of the grand jury testimony, different witnesses who said that, you know, this was. an uncomfortable or an even scary situation. And his attorneys say that he was just trying to hold Neely in place until help arrived. And just briefly, what's the status of the criminal case

involving Daniel Penny? So his attorneys have tried to get the case dismissed. A judge rejected that. So now the trial is slated to begin in October. Thanks very much for joining us. WNYC's Samantha Max one year to the date that Jordan Neely was killed. Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WMYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you this evening.