A New York prosecutor told jurors on Friday that the way veteran Daniel Penny defused an uncomfortable situation on the subway by using a chokehold "went way too far."
Prosecutor Dafna Yoran said Penny, a white Marine veteran, continued to hold his arm around the neck of Jordan Neely, a homeless Black man who had been acting erratically, after Neely's body went limp.
When the train stopped at a station, one rider told Penny, "If you don't let him go now, you're going to kill him," Yoran told the jury in her opening statement Friday. Penny has been charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. He has pleaded not guilty, saying he was acting in self-defense.
"Deadly physical force is permitted only when it's absolutely necessary and only for as long as it's absolutely necessary," Yoran said. Penny "went quite literally for the jugular," she added.
The deadly encounter happened more than one year ago and received wide news coverage at the time, with some people casting Penny as a hero and others casting Neely as a victim of a vigilante.
Neely, whom Yoran said was homeless and suffering with mental illness, entered the subway train on May 1, 2023, threw his coat to the ground and told the riders he was hungry, thirsty and wanted to return to jail. His erratic behavior is something that New Yorkers can witness daily.
"His voice was loud and his words were threatening," Yoran said, but Neely was also unarmed and did not physically threaten any of the riders.
Thirty seconds after Neely entered the train, the prosecutor said, Penny placed Neely in a chokehold. Yoran said Penny held Neely in the chokehold for about six minutes.
Video of the incident, Yoran said, would show "how unnecessary this deadly chokehold was." There is cellphone video of the incident, recorded from the subway platform.
The prosecutor also said that Penny, who has first aid training, did not try to revive Neeley.
Penny later told police, "I put him out" and said that he was trying to "de-escalate" the scene on the subway.
According to The Associated Press, Neeley was a Michael Jackson impersonator who sometimes performed his act for subway riders. His mental illness and drug abuse, AP said, was likely triggered by his mother's murder when he was a teenager.
Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
