Shortly after a Manhattan jury on Monday acquitted Daniel Penny of criminal charges in the death of Jordan Neely, a mentally ill Black homeless man, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that while Neely should not have died, he respects the judicial process and the jury's conclusion.
"I respect the process," Adams said during his weekly press conference that occurred on Monday.
The four-week trial garnered attention and criticism due to Penny’s actions and Neely’s experience as a mentally-ill homeless New Yorker that failed to get the help he needed.
“I've been stating, probably from day one, we have a mental health system that is broken. When you have someone repeatedly going through that system, that's a signature of failure,” said Adams. "We can't sit back and mourn the loss of someone that is caught up in the system when we're not taking the action every day."
The mayor repeated his call for the city's jail system to include a comprehensive psychiatric facility to deal with the repeat criminal offenders who are mentally ill.
"We could do a better job, and we could do better resources and it can't be waiting to these incidents happen," he said.
Meanwhile, when asked about the City Council's lawsuit that alleges the mayor blocked the ban on solitary confinement at Rikers Island, Adams said “We just have a difference of opinion here,” and stated that solitary confinement does not take place at Rikers.
Council Members in 2023 voted to ban solitary confinement, which Adams vetoed, to which the City Council overrode in 2024. Then Adams placed a state of emergency blocking parts of the council’s measure.
“I'm not a hard guy to figure out. I made it clear over and over again, public safety,” said Adams, who also stated that he’s been to Rikers Island more than any mayor in the history of the city.
City Council Speaker Adriane Adams on Monday said that the mayor’s actions were “unlawful and unprecedented abuse of power.”
Meanwhile over the weekend, Adams suggested enacting a possible executive order to override a portion of the sanctuary city law during a television interview. Adams said the idea is still a conversation to be had with corporation counsel. “The part of the law that the City Council, they have refused to change, that we cannot communicate with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) when people commit serious violent acts. I disagree with that,” said Adams.
The mayor also said he was excited to meet Tom Homan, the president-elect's new border czar this week.
"We need a real decompression strategy. It's important to go after those who are committing serious crimes, particularly those dangerous gangs that have come from Venezuela. And now we're finding them on the streets of our country," he said. "And I'm interested to hear his ideas on how we're going to go about that."
The mayor was also joined by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Chief of Detectives Joe Kenton, who announced that that police in Pennsylvania had captured Luigi Mangione, 26, described as "a strong person of interest" in the murder Brian Thompson, the chief executive officer of United Healthcare.
The suspect in the Dec. 4 shooting in Midtown Manhattan was spotted in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Penn.
“Someone, a McDonald’s employee, did something we ask every American to do. If you see something, say something,” said Adams.
Adams and Tisch thanked the tireless efforts of the detectives and police on duty on “every level, local, state and federal.” The NYPD commissioner pointed to the media and public’s role in finding Mangione.
“This is the third time in three weeks that a member of the public has seen something, and said something, and done something that led to a high-profile arrest,” said Tisch.
