A former Marine who placed a homeless man in a chokehold on the New York City subway turned himself in to authorities to face charges for his death.
Daniel Penny, 24, surrendered to the New York Police Department (NYPD) on Friday morning at the 5th Precinct station in Chinatown.
He faces charges of second-degree manslaughter for the death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old black homeless man and former Michael Jackson impersonator.
Neely’s death has sparked outrage and protests after it was caught on video by a freelance journalist on May 1.
In the footage, Penny can be seen restraining the man on the ground inside an F train car stopped at the Broadway-Lafayette Street station in Lower Manhattan. Penny places him in a chokehold, while two other men hold down his feet and arms.
The altercation happened after Neely entered the subway car and started acting aggressively and threw a jacket on the ground.
Juan Alberto Vazquez, the journalist who first recorded the video, told the New York Post Neely was ‘screaming in an aggressive manner.’
Penny was questioned by police immediately after Neely’s death, but he was released without charges filed.
Thomas Kenniff, an attorney representing Penny, said the ex-Marine ‘stepped in to protect himself and his fellow New Yorkers’ and called the Neely’s death ‘unintended and unforeseen.’
Kenniff said his client surrendered on Friday ‘voluntarily and with the sort of dignity and integrity that is characteristic of his history of service to this grateful nation.’
Neely’s death has also called attention to the state of healthcare and services for the city’s homeless population.
Friends and family said he had been dealing with homelessness for years, especially after the murder of his mother by her boyfriend in 2007. He was arrested several times, including for assault of a woman on the subway in 2021.
‘Jordan Neely’s life mattered,’ New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a speech on Wednesday. ‘He was suffering from severe mental illness, but that was not the cause of his death. His death is a tragedy that never should have happened.’
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