Former US Marine says he choked black man in self-defense

Veteran Daniel Penny said he "did not intend to harm" Neely when he choked the black man to death on a Manhattan subway train.

Daniel Penny's lawyers said on May 5 that the 24-year-old former Marine "could not have foreseen" the death of Jordan Neely, when he restrained the black man in a chokehold on a Manhattan subway train on May 1.

Lawyers argued that Penny and other passengers acted in self-defense until law enforcement arrived. They highlighted Neely's history of violence and erratic behavior, saying it was "a clear result of long-standing, untreated mental illness."

According to police and witnesses, Penny intervened when Neely began yelling, threatening and throwing trash at passengers on the train while begging them for food. Neely said he was willing to go to jail or even die.

Several passengers on the train called police before and during the struggle. Neely was unconscious when he reached the Broadway-Lafayette St stop and was taken by paramedics to Lenox Hill Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from a chokehold.

Homeless black man Jordan Neely (in white shirt) was choked by former US Marine Daniel Penny on a train in New York on May 1. Photo: NY Daily News

Daniel Penny served in the military from 2017 to 2021. According to the 2020 US military manual, US Marines are routinely trained in chokeholds, which can render an opponent unconscious in as little as eight seconds. In the May 1 incident, the veteran choked Neely for at least three minutes.

Police later arrested and questioned Penny, but released the veteran shortly afterwards without charge. Many Americans were outraged by the case, calling it racist.

Americans protest demanding justice for Jordan Neely outside the Manhattan Courthouse in New York, May 5. Photo: AFP

Jordan Neely struggled with depression for decades after his mother was murdered. Police said he was arrested 42 times in the past decade, most recently in November 2021 for slapping a 67-year-old woman in the face at a subway station.

The former Marine's lawyers also expressed hope that "this tragedy will spur officials to address the mental health crisis on New York's streets and subways." The Manhattan District Attorney's Office is considering whether to file charges against Penny.

Duc Trung (According to NY Post )

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