Former US Marine to be charged in choking death
STORY: A former U.S. Marine who allegedly put a homeless man in a chokehold that killed him on a New York City subway train will be arrested on Friday, and charged with manslaughter.
That’s according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a statement on Thursday.
A video circulating online shows the 24-year-old former Marine, identified as Daniel Penny, a white man, putting a Black man – identified as 30-year-old Jordan Neely – into a chokehold for more than three minutes.
Two other men on the Manhattan train are seen restraining Neely's arms before he goes limp.
Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the video.
According to the New York medical examiner’s office, Neely died from compression against his neck.
The incident has sparked protests in New York, with some describing it as ‘white vigilantism’ against people of color.
Penny’s lawyers, in a statement, said the former marine quote ‘never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death’, alleging that Neely had aggressively threatened passengers on the subway.
Penny's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An attorney for Neely's family said in a statement on Monday that Penny's actions on the train and his words show that quote ‘he needs to be in prison.’
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, speaking at City Hall in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday, said Neely ‘did not deserve to die.’
New York City Mayor Eric Adams:
"This has been a week of strong emotions in our city. One of our own is dead. A Black man. Black like me. A man named 'Jordan.' The name I gave my son. A New Yorker who struggled with tragedy, trauma and mental illness."
Adams last year increased police patrols and expanded outreach to the mentally ill in the subway, citing rising homelessness in the wake of the pandemic and a spate of attacks on train passengers, particularly against Asian Americans.
