Far-left Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts was fact-checked by Twitter users after she claimed a homeless fugitive was “lynched” by a Marine veteran this week.
On Monday, 30-year-old Jordan Neely got on a New York City subway and began to threaten passengers.
According to WNBC-TV, “witnesses and law enforcement sources said Neely got on the train and started acting very aggressively toward other riders, threatening to harm them. … Neely told riders on the train that he wanted food, that he wasn’t taking no for an answer, and that he would hurt anyone on the train.”
Given the stunning instances of violence on New York City subways in recent years, 24-year-old Daniel Penny did not take that threat lightly.
The veteran restrained Neely in a chokehold. Video of the incident shows two other men helping him.
Neely later died and his death was ruled a homicide, but that does not classify it as murder. A homicide simply occurs when someone dies at the hands of another person; the determination does not take context into account.
Neely was reportedly homeless and mentally ill. He was also black while Penny is white, so a predictable narrative was set: A white man “murdered” a black man on a New York subway. The Marine vet is being portrayed as a calculated killer who was motivated by racism.
Pressley, a member of the so-called “squad” of far-left female House Democrats, joined in the outrage.
She shared a video of Neely’s time as a bright-faced Michael Jackson impersonator and said he was “lynched.”
“He was 30 years old. Black men deserve to grow old — not be lynched on a Subway because they were having a mental health crisis,” Pressley wrote. “Jordan deserved better. Accountability now.”
He was 30 years old.
Black men deserve to grow old—not be lynched on a Subway because they were having a mental health crisis.
Jordan deserved better. Accountability now. pic.twitter.com/aX5qcryrbx
— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) May 4, 2023
Her tweet made it appear as though a fresh-faced kid doing the moonwalk was murdered in cold blood. On old Twitter, she might have gotten away with it.
But under the ownership of Elon Musk, Twitter now allows ordinary users to fact-check bogus posts such as Pressley’s.
People added the proper context to the video and pointed out in a since-removed community note that it was more than a decade old.
“This is a 2012 video of Jordan Neely, not conduct that led to his death. When he was restrained by 3 individuals in 2023, it was in response to aggressive, threatening behavior. He also had an active felony assault warrant out, in addition to 44 prior arrests,” the community note said.
Community notes is really doing important work. pic.twitter.com/tsaksQMmQj
— Eli Klein (@TheEliKlein) May 4, 2023
The days when a handful of politically motivated hacks control the narrative through disinformation are over.
Tragic as Neely’s death may be, he was not an innocent Michael Jackson impersonator who was killed while doing his best “Billie Jean.” He threatened people who have been terrorized by crime in a city that won’t do anything about it.
A veteran intervened, and Pressley’s attempt to incite a mob against him by twisting the facts was promptly exposed for what it was.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
