Yep, a surprising number of newer Jeeps have manual transfer cases and a few newer vehicles (most notably Dodge trucks) have a button for a neutral setting on the electric transfer case.
My guess is the guy had the manual case and didn’t have the ignition on to see the indicator light and yanked the lever too far. Still very dumb though. I have always been paranoid about doing something dumb so when I put a transfer case in neutral, I double and triple check, then if I can I rock the vehicle or if not pull very slow and watch it to make sure we are good to go.
Actually the only "Newer" Jeeps with manual transfer cases are the Wrangler and Gladiator. All others have had electronic/full time single speed, or dual range electronically controlled transfer cases for many years without any manual transfer case option at all....even the Grand Cherokee, Cherokee, and the Compass all have electronic full time transfer cases that use a rotary knob or buttons to control transfer case functions, which are all full time or all wheel drive based, no 2WD option, but they do have a button that you can press with a ballpoint pen to put them into neutral. I think the only Dodge trucks now with a manual transfer case is the Power Wagon even the HD's are a knob on the dash same with the Ford "Super Duty" trucks. Levers I guess require too much work and the system works all the time unlike the electronic crap...GM has had issues with their push button type systems for many years, even the newer rotary knob style has issues getting stuck in 2WD or contacts shorting out and shifting to 4WD on their own whenever they want, yikes. Ford just seems to have issues with their electronic systems from lack of use LOL. Many people hardly ever use the 4WD in their trucks, or maybe once or twice a year during hunting season so the motors tend to lockup...as shown in the 4WD section here on the forum with all the constant my truck is stuck in 2WD or 4WD or low range LOL. Even the manual on my 08 Explorer says if you don't exercise the system occasionally by manually selecting 4WD high and low range it can cause the motor to not function. I select low range every month out on a dirt road somewhere for a couple miles then go back to 4WD auto. Only downside with my Explorer is it doesn't have a 2WD mode but the 4WD auto seems extremely quick to engage as I found this past winter not sure when I'd really ever need 4hi or low range but nice that its still there in the older models.
A manual transfer case while being very simple and usually quite reliable does have its quirks especially on older vehicles or newer ones where there maybe excessive wear, or a lack of use and the lever ends up between ranges, or stuck in a certain range or hard to change between ranges as is the case with a lot of new/newer Jeeps that haven't been into 4WD because believe it or not people buy those Wranglers and they never leave the highway so the 4WD never gets used and the mechanical linkage gets bound up, rusted in place, etc. over time making a shift into 4WD hard or even impossible without physically crawling under the vehicle and disassembling the linkage and lubricating it and manually shifting the transfer case from under the vehicle to free things up. I could see someone in a brand new Jeep actually selecting low range on accident just due to how the lever is. Unlike our RBV's which require you to pull the t-case lever slightly to the left and back into low range as sort of a safety lockout, the Jeeps just go straight forward and back as do the newer Power Wagons, there isn't a stop between neutral and low range so it can easily be screwed up if you aren't really paying attention, and yes it can be shifted into low range without the vehicle in neutral, and without the vehicle running in some cases, I know my 98 ZJ you could shift through all transfer case positions 2WD, high part time, high full time, neutral, and low range without ever inserting the key and without ever shifting the transmission to neutral. The Jeeps seem to have that for some reason as do the Dodge Rams and Dodge Durangos from the early 2000's back to I think 97 or 98 when they changed the transfer case shift pattern in the Durango and Ram. The new Power Wagons use a straight shift pattern too. I don't think any Ford still offers a manual transfer case at all, even as a factory build order. I don't even think GM/Chevy offer a manual t-case anymore either, everything has gone to knobs or buttons or in some cases a combination of both with the selec-terrain systems.