Witness, 66, comes forward to say he only intervened AFTER Jordan Neely threatened to ‘kill a motherf****r’
- Penny handed himself in to police today on a 2nd degree manslaughter charge
- If convicted, he faces between three and 15 years in prison
Marine veteran Daniel Penny has handed himself in to the NYPD to face a second degree manslaughter charge for the chokehold death of Jordan Neely.
Penny, 24, handed himself into the NYPD’s 5th Precinct this morning. He will go to court shortly to be arraigned on a second degree manslaughter charge which carries a sentence of up to 15 years.
He put Neely – a mentally ill, homeless man with a record of 40 prior arrests including violent attacks – in a chokehold after Neely shouted that he was ‘fed up’ and wanted to go to jail.
A 66-year-old female witness to the incident spoke anonymously to The New York Post last night on the eve of Penny’s arraignment.
She said there are more videos of the altercation that led up to the chokehold that she believes will absolve Penny of wrongdoing.
‘So I believe that those videos are going to come forward, maybe people will do it anonymously.
‘I hope he has a great lawyer, and I’m praying for him. And I pray that he gets treated fairly, I really do.
‘Because after all of this ensued I went back and made sure that I said, “thank you” to him.’
She said Neely brought on the chokehold by threatening the entire train. She says passengers thought Neely was going to kill one of them.
‘He said, “I don’t care. I’ll take a bullet, I’ll go to jail” because he would kill people on the train.
‘He said ‘I would kill a motherf***er. I don’t care. I’ll take a bullet. I’ll go to jail.’
‘This gentleman, Mr. Penny, did not stand up. Did not engage with the gentleman. He said not a word. It was all Mr. Neely that was… threatening the passengers. If he did not get what he wants,’ she said.
Eventually, Penny stood up and pulled him to the ground. Two other men helped subdue him.
Neither of them have been charged.