Subway Chokehold Death

Daniel Penny Surrenders to Police for Chokehold Death of Jordan Neely, New York, USA - 12 May 2023

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Former U.S. Marine Daniel Penny surrenders to the NYPD for the death of Jordan Neely in New York City

Jordan Neely in New York City in 2010.

Subway Restraint Death

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A New York judge has declined to dismiss the case against Daniel Penny, the former U.S. Marine <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/06/15/daniel-penny-indicted-jordan-neely-death/" target=_blank>indicted last year in the chokehold death of subway performer Jordan Neely</a> on a Manhattan train.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley on Wednesday denied Penny’s motion to dismiss charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Penny’s attorneys have argued that the 25-year-old “risked his own life and safety” to protect other subway passengers when Neely began shouting and behaving erratically during the fatal incident last May.

According to eyewitnesses and video, Neely, 30, walked into the F train at the Second Avenue station and began shouting that he was hungry and “fed up” before removing his jacket and “aggressively whipped it to the floor,” according to freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez, who was aboard the train and recorded the fatal chokehold.

“I don’t have food, I don’t have a drink, I’m fed up,” Neely yelled, according to Vazquez, who posted publicly about the incident on Facebook. “I don’t mind going to jail and getting life in prison. I’m ready to die.”

In court filings by Penny’s lawyers, they cited unnamed eyewitnesses who also described Neely shouting what they perceived to be threats, like “someone is going to die today” and that he was “ready to go to Rikers” and “ready to do life.”

Neely, who lived with mental illness and bounced around through the city’s shelter system, was known among subway riders for his moonwalking Michael Jackson impersonations. But during the May incident, passengers cleared out of the train car when Neely began yelling, Vazquez said. That’s when, according to video of the incident, Penny approached, pinning Neely to the ground and placing him in a chokehold while two other passengers helped to restrain Neely.

In the video, Neely could be seen flailing and kicking his legs as he tried to break free of the chokehold Penny held him in for several minutes. Penny eventually let go, placing an unconscious-looking Neely on his side.

Neely was later pronounced dead at a hospital, and his death was ruled a homicide.

Donte Mills, an attorney for Neely’s family, in a statement Wednesday called the judge’s decision “a big win for Neely, his family and their supporters.”

Penny’s attorneys, meanwhile, disagreed with the ruling and lamented the case against their client as an “ill-conceived prosecution.”

“We are confident that a jury, aware of Danny’s actions in putting aside his own safety to protect the lives of his fellow riders, will deliver a just verdict,” Penny’s lawyers, Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff, said in a statement following the hearing.

Neely’s death, which evoked Eric Garner’s fatal chokehold death by New York police in 2014, drew outrage across the political spectrum for divergent reasons.

Some Republican figures hailed Penny, who is White, as a hero — praise that came against a backdrop of Republicans invoking cities such as New York and San Francisco as overrun with crime because of Democratic leadership. Penny’s critics saw Neely, who was Black, as the victim of a vigilante who needlessly used deadly force against a man in distress.

“There was no attack. Mr. Neely did not attack anyone, he did not touch anyone, he did not hit anyone,” Mills, the Neely family attorney,<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/neely-family-attorney-says-jordan-posed-no-threat/2023/05/12/911693d3-f294-4119-b94b-c808cadd169d_video.html" target=_blank> said last year. </a>“No one on that train asked Jordan, ‘What’s wrong? How can I help you?’ He was choked to death instead.”

Police briefly questioned Penny before releasing him, a move that drew sharp criticism from activists and community members. They argued that it was inappropriate to let Penny walk free after Neely’s death was ruled a homicide; Penny was not arrested until 11 days later.

In a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/05/jordan-neely-daniel-penny-subway/" target=_blank>statement</a> released through his lawyers before his arrest last May, Penny said he acted in self-defense and that he “never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death.”

Penny has been free on bond since the incident. If convicted of the manslaughter charge, a felony, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

An earlier version of this article misstated the last name of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley as Riley. The article has been corrected.

Valparaiso University, BA

Kim Bellware covers national and breaking news for The Washington Post. 

Kim Bellware

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Daniel Penny, ex-Marine indicted in Jordan Neely subway chokehold death, to face trial

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