Jury clears ex-marine in subway Black man’s death case
A Manhattan court has acquitted former U.S. Marine Daniel Penny in the choking death of Jordan Neely aboard a New York subway.
After a grueling seven-week trial and extensive deliberations, Penny was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide, a charge stemming from an incident caught on a video that went viral.
Neely’s death in 2023 captured nationwide attention in the United States.
Critics frame the case as yet another incident of excessive force against a vulnerable Black victim.
Neely was Black and Penny is white.
The court’s decision came despite the prosecution’s portrayal of Penny’s actions as reckless during an encounter with Neely, who was a mentally ill street performer.
The defense argued that Penny acted in defense of himself and other passengers when Neely began behaving erratically.
Videos show Neely, a 30-year-old street performer with a history of mental health issues, boarded the F train at the Second Avenue subway stop in New York City and began to yell.
“I don’t have food. I don’t have a drink,” passengers remember Neely saying, as he begged for money.
Penny, a 24-year-old architecture student and a former U.S. Marine responded by pulling Neely to the floor of the subway car and placing him in a chokehold.
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