A three-minute-long video showing Daniel Penny, a white man putting Jordan Neely, a Black man, in what was a deadly chokehold on the F train of a New York City subway car circulated around the internet in early May, and social media has been in an uproar. Some attribute the calls for justice to what finally led to charges against Penny, since he was “initially questioned by police and released without being charged.”
Neely’s death was ruled a homicide by the New York City Medical Examiner “since it was the chokehold that killed him.”
Although Neely’s family attorneys are supportive of the “prosecutors’ decision to charge Penny…[they] said he should have been charged with murder, not manslaughter, and that he should have been arrested sooner.”
Today, the 24-year-old former Marine turned himself in, facing charges of second degree manslaughter, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Under New York law, “Second-degree manslaughter is a felony and applies in cases where someone either recklessly causes the death of another or intentionally causes or assists in a person’s suicide,” and in Penny’s case “a police report indicates the charge is tied to the first.”
Penny did not enter a plea at his arraignment in the Manhattan Criminal Court Friday morning. He was released on $100,000 bail, ordered to surrender his passport, and is unable to leave the state without prior approval.
His court date was set for July 17 after a grand jury investigates. If Penny receives a conviction for second degree manslaughter, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
Leaving the courthouse, Penny was flanked by police at his side and did not give any comments to the waiting press.
Lennon Edwards, one of the lawyers representing the Neely family, said “Daniel Penny chose, intentionally chose, a technique to use that is designed to cut off air — that’s what he chose — and he chose to continue to hold that chokehold minute after minute, second after second, until there was no life left in Jordan Neely.”
Another attorney for the Neely family, Donte Mills, spoke at a press conference after Penny turned himself in to authorities, stating that the Marine veteran “acted with indifference,” adding “And we can’t let that stand.”
Mills continued, “For everybody saying, ‘I’ve been on the train and I’ve been afraid before, and I can’t tell you what I would’ve done in that situation.’ I’m gonna tell you — ask how you can help,” said Mills. “Please, don’t attack. Don’t choke, don’t kill, don’t take someone’s life.” “We don’t want anybody afraid on the subway,” Mills stated “But we want people to look at those that may be there in that situation and say, ‘Why?’ And, ‘How can I help them or make a difference?’”
A well-known Michael Jackson impersonator, Neely was also homeless and “had a long history of mental illness,” and has reportedly been experiencing these “issues since 2007, after his mother was brutally murdered when he was 14…[and h]er body was discovered stuffed inside a briefcase.”
Thomas Kenniff is representing Penny and stated, “He is dealing with the situation with the sort of integrity and honor that is characteristic of who he is, a characteristic of his honorable service in the United States Marine Corps.” Penny’s attorneys are claiming self-defense, despite the fact that Neely did not physically attack anyone before he was fatally subdued.