--- description: Why Rev. Al Sharpton and others are comparing Jordan Neely's death on the subway to Bernhard Goetz's 1984 case. title: Jordan Neely's Death Reminds Some New Yorkers of the 1984 Bernhard Goetz Case image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81781d413f2f5f81/698a3c8c16d8849dd0c3bcd8/Bernhard-Goetz-nyc.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Crime](/tag/crime/) ## Crime Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Jordan Neely's Death Reminds Some New Yorkers of the 1984 Bernhard Goetz Case ## Video: Protesters Demand Justice After Jordan Neely's Death on NYC Subway [Watch (HLS stream): Protesters Demand Justice After Jordan Neely's Death on NYC Subway](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/urrVn83W.m3u8) (0:40)  _Published 2023-05-04. Jordan Neely’s death has been ruled a homicide, days after a white New York City subway rider held the 30-year-old Black man in a chokehold on a train on May 1._  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer May 4, 2023 4:46 PM CUT  Police escort Bernhard Goetz out of a New York courthouse after a hearing in his attempted murder trial. Police escort Bernhard Goetz out of a New York courthouse after a hearing in his attempted murder trial.Bettmann Archive/Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer May 4, 2023 4:46 PM CUT Jordan Neely’s death [has been ruled](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jordan-neely-subway-death-ruled-homicide-chokehold/ "undefined") a homicide, days after a white [New York City subway](https://time.com/3589862/subway-fall-death/ "undefined") rider held the 30-year-old Black man in a [chokehold](https://time.com/3618092/eric-garner-chokehold-grand-jury-2/ "undefined") on a train on May 1\. According to Juan Alberto Vazquez, a freelance journalist who shot a viral video of the encounter, Neely, a regular fixture on the subways as a Michael Jackson impersonator, had been screaming on the train, and may have been having some sort of mental breakdown. For some, the footage felt sickeningly familiar. In a May 3 [statement](https://nationalactionnetwork.net/newnews/rev-al-sharpton-demands-justice-for-jordan-neely-after-he-was-strangled-by-subway-passenger-during-mental-health-episode/ "undefined"), civil rights activist [Rev. Al Sharpton](https://time.com/3608202/al-sharpton-thanksgiving-michael-brown/ "undefined") compared the incident to [Bernhard Goetz](https://time.com/3640967/bernhard-goetz-history/ "undefined"), who shot four Black men on the subway on Dec. 22, 1984, saying he believed they were trying to rob him. “We cannot end up back to a place where vigilantism is tolerable,” [Sharpton](https://time.com/5883353/reverand-al-sharpton-march-washington/ "undefined") said. “It wasn’t acceptable then and it cannot be acceptable now.”  The Apr. 8, 1985, cover of TIME TIME Here’s how TIME [recounted](https://time.com/vault/issue/1985-04-08/page/1/ "undefined") the 1984 subway shooting in the Apr. 8, 1985, issue of the magazine: --- > “” --- Back then, there were a lot of questions about what exactly led Goetz to shoot the teens, and mental health experts told TIME to look at his troubled background. His father was convicted on charges of molesting two teen boys. Goetz himself was divorced. In 1981, he bought a pistol after being jumped by Black youths in the subway, but escaped, and mental health experts told the magazine that he may have shot at the boys in the subway four years later as an act of revenge. Goetz became an overnight celebrity, and TIME wrote that “the 37-year-old electrical engineer became a tabula rasa on which Americans etched their uneasiness and projected their fantasies of retaliation.” **Read More:** [_Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: America’s Dark Obsession With Vigilante Justice_](https://time.com/3184586/kareem-abdul-jabbar-americas-dark-obsession-with-vigilante-justice/ "undefined") In 1987, Goetz was acquitted on attempted murder, fined $5,000, and sentenced to six months in prison for illegal weapons possession and community service. At the time, [Sharpton ](https://time.com/5681005/al-sharpton-juanita-abernathy-obituary/ "undefined")[said](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/10/20/goetz-sentenced-to-6-months-for-subway-shootings/f4449db4-7aef-4ab5-b571-ed83ecb9c327/ "undefined") Goetz got off easy because he was white, arguing, “If Bernie Goetz had been Black, he would have gotten much more than six months.”  A vigil participant lights a candle in memory of Jordan Neely in the Broadway-Lafayette subway station in Manhattan, on May, 3, 2023. Barry Williams—NY Daily News/Getty Images Neely’s death also raises painful and complicated questions about [crime](https://time.com/6166692/brooklyn-subway-shooting-police/ "undefined") and [mental health](https://time.com/collection/davos-2020-mental-health/ "undefined"). Some in rightwing circles have praised the subway rider who held Neely in a chokehold, believed to be a 24-year-old Marine veteran, and criticized crime rates in New York City. Others say the [chokehold](https://time.com/3071288/eric-garner-chokehold-death-nypd-medical-examiner/ "undefined") was an extreme reaction. Manhattan borough president Mark Levine [tweeted](https://twitter.com/MarkLevineNYC/status/1653843395373047808?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1653843395373047808%7Ctwgr%5Ef7aea4814233a5595bf20dc24f6dabac0d410614%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedailybeast.com%2Fwannabe-vigilante-chokes-homeless-man-jordan-neely-to-death-on-nyc-subway-videos-show "undefined"), “Our broken mental health system failed him. He deserved help, not to die in a chokehold on the floor of the subway.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6277087/jordan-neely-bernhard-goetz-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6277087/jordan-neely-bernhard-goetz-history/"},"headline":"Jordan Neely's Death Reminds Some New Yorkers of the 1984 Bernhard Goetz Case","datePublished":"2023-05-04T16:46:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:53:17.995Z","description":"“We cannot end up back to a place where vigilantism is tolerable,” Al Sharpton said. “It wasn’t acceptable then and it cannot be acceptable now.”","url":"https://time.com/6277087/jordan-neely-bernhard-goetz-history/","keywords":["Crime","Second click","uspoliticspolicy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81781d413f2f5f81/698a3c8c16d8849dd0c3bcd8/Bernhard-Goetz-nyc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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