Daniel Penny, the U.S. Marine veteran who was filmed inserting Jordan Neely in a lethal chokehold place on a New York Metropolis subway prepare earlier this week launched his first assertion by means of his legal professionals on Friday.
Penny, a 24-year-old white man from West Islip, Lengthy Island, was one in every of a number of people who tackled Neely, a homeless Black man who was additionally a Michael Jackson impersonator, and held him to the bottom on an F prepare on Monday, in keeping with video captured by freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez. The journalist informed the New York Put up that Neely was screaming “in an aggressive method” earlier than he was tackled.
“He stated he had no meals, he had no drink, that he was drained and would not care if he goes to jail,” Vazquez stated, including that Neely didn’t assault anybody, however Penny approached him after he threw his jacket to the bottom. Neely additionally, at one level, stated that he was able to die, in keeping with The New York Occasions.
The video posted by Vazquez confirmed the previous Marine mendacity beneath Neely and restraining him in chokehold place for a number of minutes. The person failed to interrupt free from Penny’s tight grip as one other passenger pinned his arms and one other individual held down his shoulder.
(Picture by Spencer Platt/Getty Pictures
In an prolonged video of the incident cited by the Every day Mail, a bystander who stepped onto the prepare warned Penny about holding Neely in that place. Nevertheless, Penny continued holding him within the chokehold even after the homeless man faltered after 2 minutes and 6 seconds. The person who was not seen within the video might be heard telling Penny that Neely had defecated, including, “you are going to kill him now.”
New York Metropolis’s health worker stated Neely died from compression of the neck and labeled the demise as a murder, however added it’s as much as the authorized system to find out whether or not the incident is of legal legal responsibility. Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg’s workplace stated it’s investigating. In the meantime, Penny was detained after the incident, however was later launched with out expenses.
Joseph Giacalone, a professor of legal justice at John Jay Faculty, informed The Guardian on Friday that he believed Penny may very well be thought-about for expenses of manslaughter or negligent murder given the contents of the video. These expenses sometimes stem from unintentional killings and they don’t seem to be as critical as a homicide, however are nonetheless handled as an unlawful crime.
Attorneys Steven M. Raiser and Thomas A. Kenniff launched a press release on Penny’s behalf on Friday, saying that their shopper “by no means supposed to hurt Mr. Neely and couldn’t have foreseen his premature demise,” and blamed metropolis officers for his or her response to psychological sickness.
“Mr. Neely had a documented historical past of violent and erratic habits, the obvious results of ongoing and untreated psychological sickness. When Mr. Neely started aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the opposite passengers, Daniel, with the assistance of others, acted to guard themselves, till assist arrived,” the legal professionals wrote within the assertion, which was posted on Twitter by HuffPost’s senior editor Philip Lewis.
Neely Had a Prolonged Document of Aggressive Conduct: Police
A New York Police Division (NYPD) spokesperson informed Newsweek on Thursday that Neely had a file of 42 prior arrests, courting between 2013 and 2021. 4 of his arrests had been for alleged assault and he was additionally accused of transit fraud and legal trespass. On the time of his demise, Neely had one lively warrant for an alleged assault of a 67-year-old lady that occurred in 2021.
Lots of Neely’s arrests had been for alleged violations of native regulation, the spokesperson added, and likewise included lower-level offenses akin to having an open container of alcohol in public.
“For too lengthy, these affected by psychological sickness have been handled with indifference. We hope that out of this terrible tragedy will come a brand new dedication by our elected officers to handle the psychological well being disaster on our streets and subways,” learn the letter by Penny’s legal professionals.
Quite a few assaults throughout New York Metropolis’s subway system previously two years have prompted requires safer subways by commuters and metropolis residents. The NYPD despatched Newsweek information final 12 months stating that town’s subway system noticed 461 felony assaults in 2021, which is 100 extra felonies than in 2020. This determine can be the best since 1997, in keeping with the New York Put up on the time. As well as, eight homicides had been reported in 2021.
Neely’s Loss of life Sparks Outrage, Divides Public Opinion
The homeless man’s demise sparked outrage throughout town, with protesters calling for Penny’s arrest, whereas others blamed metropolis officers for failing to guard New Yorkers utilizing the subway system.
Donald Grant, a scientific psychologist in Los Angeles, informed NBC Information that Neely’s motion represents white vigilantism that threatens Black Individuals.
“It reignites the fear within the souls of Black of us once we witness these killings of our folks with out trial, with out jury, with out adjudication,” stated Grant, including “this vigilante exercise is known as a reminder of the harmful situations that Black Individuals exist in now.”
New York Metropolis Council Speaker Adrienne Adams additionally advised that racism within the authorized system was a think about Neely’s demise as she condemned the incident in a press release on Twitter on Wednesday. She added that Neely’s psychological well being challenges had been “no purpose for his life to be taken.”
In the meantime, Rahnuma Tarannum, a 25-year-old information analyst who lives in Brooklyn pointed that the dearth of public security in NYC’s subway system performed a think about Neely’s demise. She informed the Occasions that “as a result of police should not doing their job, that is why the residents of New York are taking the regulation into their fingers…any person has to do one thing.”
What Do New York Officers Assume?
New York Governor Kathy Hochul stated on Thursday that the best way the passengers handled Neely was an “excessive response.”
“I do need to acknowledge how horrific it was to view a video of Jordan Neely being killed for being a passenger on the subway trains,” she stated throughout a press convention. A reporter requested the governor what could be the suitable response to any person who’s “appearing erratically, threatening folks.”
“I feel it is a case-by-case state of affairs. This was an unarmed particular person who had been on the subway many instances, recognized by lots of the common vacationers,” she responded. “And you recognize, generally folks have an episode the place they’re displaying their emotions in a loud and emotional method, nevertheless it turned very clear that he was not going to, you recognize, trigger hurt to those different folks. And the video of three people holding him down till the final breath was snuffed out of him. I might say it was a really excessive response.”
Nevertheless, New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams had a unique view of the state of affairs, saying it was “irresponsible” to solid blame earlier than realizing all of the information.
“We do know there have been critical psychological well being points in play right here which is why our administration has made file funding in offering care to those that ended it and getting folks off the streets and subways, and out of harmful conditions,” he stated, in keeping with the Nationwide Evaluation.
Newsweek reached out by electronic mail to Penny’s attorneys, the NYPD, and a number of other legal justice specialists for remark.
