The 30-year-old vagrant, who once performed as a Michael Jackson impersonator, had been arrested dozens of times – including most recently for vicious assaults on subway riders, court records show.
In 2021, Neely socked a 67-year-old woman as she exited the Bowery station in the
East Village in Lower Manhattan.
The woman sustained a broken nose, a fractured orbital bone, and "bruising, swelling and substantial pain to the back of her head" in the Nov. 12 attack, according to a criminal complaint.
Neely
pleaded guilty to felony assault Feb. 9 in exchange for a 15-month alternative-to-incarceration program, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. He was supposed to stay in a treatment facility and abstain from drugs.