NEW YORK – Marine veteran Daniel Penny is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Jordan Neely. Penny restrained Neely on a New York City subway after he threatened passengers May 1. Witnesses called Penny a hero, but prosecutors claim he committed a crime after Neely died. Now, Penny is speaking publicly for the first time about what took place in video clips released by his attorneys, Law&Crime reported.
Images and videos of Penny, 24, restraining an erratic Jordan Neely, 30, in a carotid restraint hold on the F train went viral last month after Neely died. A medical examiner ruled the cause of death was “compression of the neck.”
During an interview with investigators, Penny said he was listening to music though his headphones when Neely boarded the train at Second Ave. He removed his headphones when he saw Neely throw his jacket down at passengers.
“This was a scary situation,” Penny explained in one of four video clips. “The three main threats he repeated over and over were ‘I’m going to kill you. I’m prepared to go to jail for life and I’m willing to die.’”
“Some people say I was holding on to Mr. Neely for 15 minutes. This is not true,” Penny said. “The reason why there’s no video at the start of the altercation is because people were too afraid getting away from him.”
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Penny said the interaction between him and Neely lasted less than five minutes.
“I was praying that the police would come and take this situation over. I couldn’t sit still and let him carry out these threats,” Penny acknowledged.
“I didn’t see a black man threatening passengers. I saw a man threatening passengers – a lot of whom were people of color. A man who helped restrain Mr. Neely was a person of color,” Penny explained.
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