Marine veteran Daniel Penny on Sunday argued against the main claims brought against him in the murder last month of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway, disputing a witness’s claim that he held Neely for 15 minutes and denying that he had killed him. held in a stranglehold.
Penny, 24, has made several public comments about his fatal interaction with 30-year-old Neely, a mental health street performer – including in an interview with the New York Post and a public statement on video released through his lawyers on Sunday — apparently in an attempt to portray himself as a “Good Samaritan” trying to protect people on the train from a confrontational man, including Neely himself.
Penny was captured on bystander video of Neely being held in a chokehold on a New York City subway on May 1. Journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez, who recorded part of the encounter, estimated that Penny held Neely in a stranglehold for 15 minutes.
In a interview to the court news site Law & Crime, Penny denied that claim, instead giving his own estimate that he had held Neely for “less than five minutes”.
Penny also denied having Neely in a stranglehold, despite video of Neely’s death. Two days after the fatal encounter, the medical examiner’s office in New York City announced that Neely had died from “pressure on his neck as a result of the stranglehold” and ruled his death a homicide.
Neely’s murder led to protests calling for the arrest of Penny and heightened discourse about race, homelessness and mental health. Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter 10 days after Neely’s death, after days of protest and outrage.
In his comments on Sunday, Penny argued that Neely appeared to be on drugs, that Neely threatened others on the train and that he held Neely in a stranglehold for about five minutes. Penny also insisted that his intention was not to strangle Neely to death, but to restrain him until the police arrived.
“I acted in a way that protected the other passengers, protected myself and protected Mr. Neely,” said Penny.
“I tried to keep him on the ground until the police came. I prayed the police would come and take over this situation,” Penny said.
Neely, a black man, was known for impersonating Michael Jackson. Penny, who is white and constantly labeled Neely a threat, has been accused of anti-black bias.
“I have not seen a black man threaten passengers. I saw a man threaten passengers. Many of them were people of color,” Penny said Sunday, echoing statements he made in May.
Still, Penny’s characterization of Neely echoes comments anonymous police sources made to news organizations in the days following the murder, which attempt to demonize Neely while hailing Penny as a hero.
Like JS’s Matt Schuman stressedjournalists later discovered details of the murder that appear to contradict claims by unnamed sources that Neely threatened to do so.
“[Penny] can’t rewrite how the story ends,” Lennon Edwards, one of Neely’s family lawyers, said in May. “The story ends with his arms around Jordan’s neck, causing him to suffocate, and that’s what he has to pay for.”
Lawyers for Neely’s family did not immediately respond to JS’s request for comment.