Jury sees subway chokehold video that led to veteran Daniel Penny's manslaughter trial

NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors watched a video Monday of Daniel Penny grabbing a man around the neck on a New York City subway while another passenger begged the Marine veteran to let go.

Two videos shot by bystanders — one by a high school student, the other by a freelance journalist — offered the anonymous jury its first direct look at the chokehold at the heart of the manslaughter trial surrounding the 2023 death of Jordan Neely.

Prosecutors say the student's video has never been released before. Jurors also saw a more detailed version of Mexican freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vázquez's video, part of which he posted on social media and which was widely seen, prosecutors said.

A member of Neely's family held his head in his hands and then left the courtroom as Vázquez's video played on large screens.

Prosecutors say 25-year-old Penny recklessly killed Neely, who was homeless and mentally ill. He had frightened passengers on the train with angry statements that some passengers found threatening.

Penny has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers say he was defending himself and his fellow passengers, appearing in one of the explosive moments that New York straphangers fear but most shy away from confronting.

Neely, 30, who was known to some subway riders for impersonating Michael Jackson, had mental health and drug problems. His family said his life fell apart after his mother was murdered when he was a teenager and he testified at the trial that led to her boyfriend's conviction.

He crossed paths on a subway on May 1, 2023 with Penny – an architecture student who had served in the Marines for four years.

Neely was homeless, broke, hungry, thirsty and so desperate to go to prison that he yelled at passengers who later recalled his statements to police.

He made high school student Ivette Rosario so nervous that she thought she would faint, she testified Monday. She's seen outbreaks on the subway before, “but not like this,” she said.

“I became quite frightened because of the tone of voice, and I was afraid of what was being said,” said 19-year-old Rosario. She told jurors that Neely “yelled in an angry tone, like you were fed up.”

She said she looked down and hoped the train would arrive at a station before anything else happened.

Then she heard the sound of someone falling, looked up and saw Neely lying on the ground with Penny's arm around his neck.

The train soon stopped and she got off, but continued to watch from the platform. She would soon make one of the first emergency calls and inform about what was happening. But first, her shaking hand pressed the record button on her phone.

She captured video of Penny on the floor — grabbing Neely's head in the crook of his left arm while his right hand rested on Neely's head — and of an unseen bystander saying that Neely was dying and urging, “Let him go.” !”

Rosario said she did not see Neely targeting or accosting anyone.

But according to the defense, Neely staggered toward a woman with a stroller and said he was “going to kill,” and Penny felt he had to do something.

Prosecutors do not allege that Penny intended to kill, nor do they blame him for initially deciding to stop Neely's threatening behavior. But it says Penny went overboard by choking the man for about six minutes, even after the passengers were able to exit the train, after two of them remained and helped hold Neely, and after he had been there for nearly a minute had stopped for a long time.

A lawyer for Neely's family claims whatever he said doesn't justify what Penny did.

Defense attorneys say Penny continued to hold Neely because he tried to break free at times. Prosecutors said Neely was fighting to survive.

Vázquez testified through a Spanish-speaking interpreter that Neely “really tried to free himself” by first trying to pull Penny's arms from his neck – until another passenger grabbed hold of them – and then moving his legs.

Then “he suddenly stopped moving,” Vázquez told jurors.

He testified that he shortened the version of the video he posted on social media, cutting out about a minute at the beginning in which Penny and Neely didn't move much. Like Rosario, he shot his video after the train stopped at the station.

The defense also challenges the medical examiner's determination that the chokehold killed Neely.

The story continues