NOHO, Manhattan (WABC) — The attorney for a Marine involved in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely aboard a New York City subway train issued a statement on Friday, expressing “condolences.”
The 24-year-old U.S. Marine veteran and college student, identified by his attorney as Danny Penny, was seen on video restraining Neely. He told police he was not trying to kill Neely, but only trying to hold him for police.
Penny’s law firm, Raiser and Kenniff, P.C., in a statement expressed condolences.
“When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived,” the statement said. “Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death.”
The statement went on to say, “We hope that out of this awful tragedy will come a new commitment by our elected officials to address the mental health crisis on our streets and subways.”
A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation tells ABC News the probe into the subway chokehold death is continuing. The case is likely to go to a grand jury next week in order for the panel to determine whether criminal charges are warranted and, if so, what they would be.
The final decision to go to a grand jury has not been made yet but it is typical in cases where the circumstances are not clear-cut.
Already, detectives have interviewed more than a half-dozen witnesses and are looking to talk to “four or five more” who had close-in vantage points to what occurred.
The vet as well as other witnesses told detectives that Neely had been acting out in the subway car and a sense of fear had taken hold among passengers, but it was a sense of fear of the unknown.
Neely had not become violent and had not been threatening anyone in particular. The source said the sense of fear is the type of typical reaction New York subway riders feel when someone is ranting, raving, and acting out in the confines of a moving train car. (Also, police note there is a real fear of surging crime and mental illness that is now coursing through the population of a post-pandemic city.)
As it stands right now, the source said, it’s “clearly a homicide; but is it a murder?”
Importantly, detectives so far have no information suggesting that the veteran who administered the hold had been warned by onlookers that Neely was dying or suffering serious physical damage while being restrained. That’s important, according to detectives, because the man who held down Neely insists he was simply trying to restrain Neely, not hurt him.
In the meantime, hundreds of protesters gathered in Washington Square Park Friday night, angry at the system and livid at the lack of care for the city’s homeless and mentally ill. They were also furious with the mayor.
RELATED| Jordan Neely’s family calls chokehold death on subway an ‘injustice’
On Thursday, protestors at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn called for accountability as the NYPD has issued a call for help in their investigation.
Activists demanded that charges be filed against the Marine veteran at the center of the disturbing video of Neely in a chokehold. That video shows Neely on the floor of a northbound F train.
Neely died from compression of the neck, the city’s medical examiner determined Wednesday.
Neely is recognizable to some New Yorkers as a Michael Jackson impersonator who regularly danced in the Times Square transit hub. On Monday afternoon, he was yelling and pacing back and forth on an F train in Manhattan, witnesses and police said, when he was restrained by at least three people, including the Marine veteran who pulled one arm tightly around his neck.
A physical struggle ensued, leading to Neely losing consciousness. He was rushed to Lenox Hill Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
“What kind of standard are you setting when you do that? Are people gonna be able to start choking out every homeless person,” protest organizer Relly Rebel asked.
“As part of our rigorous ongoing investigation, we will review the Medical Examiner’s report, assess all available video and photo footage, identify and interview as many witnesses as possible, and obtain additional medical records,” read a statement from a spokesperson for the DA.
The NYPD is asking for help from the public as investigators review video footage and other material and said the department’s “first priority is always to seek justice.”
New video recently released shows Neely panhandling on the subway just last month, unshaven in street clothes.
Meanwhile, his family attorney released a statement that said in part, “I took this case because 15 minutes is too long to go without help, intervention and without air. Passengers are not supposed to die on the floor of our subways.”
On Wednesday night, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, “Jordan Neely was murdered.”
Mayor Eric Adams later spoke about the investigation and urged New Yorkers to withhold judgment.
“I’m going to let the process take its place and those who believe that I should do something differently, I respect that,” Adams said. “But I have to make the right decision for the City of New York.”
Neely has a history of about 44 prior arrests and was known by the MTA and police, but many argue Neely did not need to die and there is growing backlash over the case.
The 24-year-old man who tackled Neely claimed he was stepping in to help fellow passengers who felt scared and threatened. But at a vigil for Neely on Wednesday afternoon, advocates said it was Neely who needed help most, and society failed him.
“And because what people are constantly given is this narrative that homeless people are dangerous, people think they can take matters into their own hands and view a Black man being upset that he’s hungry as a threat,” said Krys Cerisier with Vocal NY.
WATCH | How should you react if there is a person in distress on the subway?
The 24-year-old subway rider was questioned by detectives and released. He has not been publicly identified but joined the Corps in 2017 and was discharged in 2021 with the rank of sergeant. He received medals for good conduct and national defense service and service in the global war on terrorism.
Witnesses told detectives Neely came onto the subway, threw his jacket on the floor, and began screaming and yelling aggressively, pacing up and down the train car.
According to sources, witnesses to his final moments told police Neely was erratic and hostile — but it’s not clear if he was threatening violence.
“He erupted in the train and then started to yelling violence language, ‘I don’t care if I die, I don’t care if I go to jail, I don’t have any food, I don’t have any beverage, I’m done,'” said Juan Alberto Vázquez who recorded video of the encounter.
Eyewitness News Reporter Mike Marza has more
Other witnesses told police that Neely became increasingly hostile and began throwing trash. Vázquez says it did not seem to him that Neely intended to harm riders-that he did not attack anyone before he was jumped from behind and placed in a chokehold.
Years ago, Neely could be seen in the subways dancing like Michael Jackson. The Manhattan borough president tweeted Wednesday that he saw him perform many times on the A train and that he made people smile.
Video showed Neely asking for donations on April 1.
Neely also had a documented mental history, police sources said.
“Our government, our society, should actually provide those wraparound services instead of leaving someone languishing out there and that’s a failure on all of us, and our elected leaders,” said Adolfo Abreu with Vocal NY.
Neely’s death comes amid a period of heightened public attention to both homelessness and mental illness on New York City’s streets and subways.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke out about the case on Thursday and said Neely’s family deserves justice.
“Just looking at that video, you know it’s wrong, no one has the right to take the life of another person,” Hochul said. “Three individuals holding him down until the last breath was snuffed out him, I would say, was a very extreme response.”
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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