The family of subway chokehold victim Jordan Neely invited the Rev. Al Shapton on Tuesday to deliver his eulogy at a May 19 funeral service in Harlem.
The longtime civil rights activist was asked to speak at the Mount Neboh Baptist Church when the 30-year-old is laid to rest, said Senior Pastor the Rev. Johnnie Melvin Green, the Neely family’s pastor.
Sharpton has called for criminal charges against ex-Marine Daniel Penny in the deadly May 1 encounter aboard a Manhattan F train.
“As we face sorrow, pain and uncertainty in the wake of Jordan’s senseless killing, it is crucial that we come together in the spirit of healing, action and perseverance,” said Green. “I can think of no one better, no one more equipped to meet this moment with that grace and guidance than Rev. Sharpton.”
Green presided over the 2007 funeral of Neely’s mother after her murder. A Sharpton spokesman did not respond Tuesday to the Daily News about the invite.
Neely died from compressions to the neck in the deadly incident, with no charges yet brought against Penny for applying the lethal hold. The city medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide.
Penny, 24, was initially taken into custody for questioning, but then released, a decision that outraged many New Yorkers.
A video showed Penny’s left arm wrapped around Neely’s neck, with the homeless man struggling until he finally stopped moving on the floor of the train. The victim, who had lived on the streets for the past four years, struggled with mental illness and was arrested 42 times in his last decade of life.
“Jordan was a good man,” his grieving father, Andre Zachery, previously told the Daily News. “He was a good person. He grew up good. … He wasn’t bad. He was beautiful.”
The specifics of the funeral and Neely’s wake will be announced in the coming days.
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