NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- The Marine veteran seen on video putting Jordan Neely in a minutes-long chokehold on a subway train, leading to Neely's death, was charged with manslaughter Friday and released on bond.
Daniel Penny, 24, was charged with one count of second-degree manslaughter in the death of Neely, 30, who was yelling he was hungry and acting in a "hostile and erratic manner" towards passengers when Penny restrained him on a SoHo subway train on May 1, according to a police report.
Penny was arraigned on a complaint, not an indictment, as a grand jury will be impaneled in the case. He did not enter a plea and said little during a brief appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Inside the courtroom, Penny faced straight ahead, his hands still cuffed. He spoke softly, offering one-word answers to Judge Kevin McGrath as his lawyer, Steve Raiser, placed an arm around his shoulder.
McGrath approved Penny's bond and ordered him to surrender his passport and not to leave New York without approval.
He was released on $100,000 bond shortly before 12:30 p.m. His next court date is expected to be July 17 after a grand jury investigates.
Penny's lawyers have said he was acting in self-defense when he pinned Neely to the floor of the subway car with the help of two other passengers and held him in a chokehold for several minutes. Neely's death sparked protests, while others embraced Penny as a vigilante hero.
Prosecutors said in court that Neely was threatening passengers before Penny came from behind and placed him in a chokehold for several minutes, even after he'd stopped moving. The medical examiner ruled he died by "compression of neck (chokehold)."
Earlier Friday, Penny turned himself in at the 5th Precinct stationhouse on Elizabeth Street in Chinatown. He did not answer questions from reporters as he exited a black SUV wearing a suit and tie around 8 a.m. He was later transported in handcuffs to Manhattan Criminal Court to be arraigned on the manslaughter charge, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Asked outside the police station if Penny had any regrets, his attorney Thomas Kenniff, said, "He's dealing with the situation with the sort of integrity and honor that is characteristic of who he is, characteristic of his honorable service in the United States Marine Corps, and you know, he has his head held up high."
After Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg confirmed Thursday that Penny would be charged in the case, Penny's attorneys released a statement saying they're confident he'll be "fully absolved of any wrongdoing."
"When Mr. Penny, a decorated Marine veteran, stepped in to protect himself and his fellow New Yorkers, his well-being was not assured," the law firm of Raiser and Kenniff, PC, said in the statement. "He risked his own life and safety, for the good of his fellow passengers. The unfortunate result was the unintended and unforeseen death of Mr. Neely."
At a press conference Friday, an attorney for the Neely family, Donte Mills, urged people not to look down Neely for living on the street, saying, "We all could be one paycheck or two away from that happening to us. We could be one tragedy away from that happening to us."
"Who are we to look at someone and say, 'They were houseless, so they must be a bad person. They were houseless, so they must have been about to attack us, they must have been about to hurt us, so we had the right to take his life, because our life matters more,'" Mills said.
"We don't want it where you can kill someone because you thought there was a possibility they could do something to you," he continued. "There was no attack. Mr. Neely did not attack anyone, he did not touch anyone, he did not hit anyone, but he was choked to death, and that can't stand."
In a statement last Friday through their attorneys, the Neely family said Penny had not expressed regret in a statement he made in the days after the killing. They also accused him of a "character assassination" of Neely, who was homeless at the time of his death and had a history of mental illness and arrests, including for the 2021 assault on a woman leaving the subway.
"The truth is he knew nothing about Jordan's history when he intentionally wrapped his arms around Jordan's neck, and squeezed and kept squeezing," said the family in a statement from the law firm of Mills and Edwards. "He never attempted to help him at all. In short, his actions on the train, and now his words, show why he needs to be in prison."
Neely's death, captured on video by a freelance journalist, has raised an uproar over many issues, including how those with mental illness are treated by the transit system and the city, as well as crime and vigilantism.
Penny was questioned by police immediately after Neely's death aboard an F train at the Broadway–Lafayette Street in SoHo, but he was then released without charges, leading to days of protests in which dozens were arrested.
A second-degree manslaughter charge in New York will require the jury to find that a person has engaged in reckless conduct that creates an unjustifiable risk of death, and then consciously disregards that risk.
The law also requires that conduct to be a gross deviation from how a reasonable person would act in a similar situation.
Witnesses have said Neely was screaming and begging for money aboard the train but hadn't touched anyone before he was placed in the chokehold.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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