Source: John Lamparski/Getty
Daniel Pennythe former Marine who placed Jordan Neely in a subway train drowning last year, was acquitted of his death after jurors deadlocked on a manslaughter charge.
On Monday (Dec. 9), Daniel Penny, who choked fellow subway passenger Jordan Neely on an uptown F train last year, was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter. The decision came after the jury had previously deadlocked on a charge of manslaughter, which the presiding judge dismissed last Friday (December 6). The verdict means the former Marine is free.
Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man, boarded the F train last May shouting loudly and acting erratically. Penny, 24, managed to get behind Neely and placed him in a choke hold to subdue him, with other passengers helping. The video shows Neely, who is black, struggling to get out of Penny's hold for several minutes. Neely would be rushed to the hospital after police arrived, where he died of neck compression, which was confirmed by the medical examiner. Penny will be billed next month.
The case would become a hot topic of debate locally in New York and nationally, with conservatives and the right-wing rallying around Penny, who is white. Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis called him a “Good Samaritan.” Observers compared it to the incident 40 years ago when Bernard Goetz, who was white, shot four black teenagers on the subway claiming he was being targeted for stealing from them.
“Jordan Neely had been failed by the city's social service system for years. He was a loser from our town when Daniel Penny put him in a choke hold on the subway. And today, Jordan was once again failed, this time by the city's justice system, after the jury's decision to acquit Penny of manslaughter,” wrote City Council members Sandy Nurse, Shahana Hanif, Jennifer Gutiérrez, Carmen de La Rosa, Kevin C. Riley, and Crystal Hudson in a joint statement condemning the decision. As Penny was led from court by his lawyers, Neely's father, Mr. Zachery, spoke to reporters about the decision while surrounded by supporters, including the Reverend Al Sharpton. “I just want to say I miss my son,” she said after struggling with emotion for several minutes, adding: “It hurts. It really, really hurts.”
