Daniel Penny, a former US Marine accused of fatally strangling homeless street artist Jordan Neely aboard a New York City subway train earlier this month, has turned himself into authorities. He will now be charged with second-degree manslaughter.
Penny was handcuffed as she left the police station; she is scheduled to be charged later today.
According to his lawyer Thomas Kenniff, he is handling the circumstance with “the sort of integrity and honor that is characteristic of who he is” and “of his honorable service.” He also has “his head held high.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office released the following statement on Thursday: “We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place (Friday).”
Attorneys for Penny expressed their certainty that he will be “fully absolved of any wrongdoing.”
“He put his personal safety and well-being in danger for the benefit of his fellow travelers. Mr. Neely’s inadvertent and unexpected death was the terrible outcome, Penny’s counsel stated in a statement on Thursday.
The tweet below confirms that Daniel Penny surrendered:
Man Charged with Manslaughter in NYC Subway Chokehold Death
Neely, 30, was restrained by Penny on a Manhattan subway after he started yelling that he was starving, thirsty, and had nothing to live for. At a hospital, Neely was pronounced dead.
The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner announced earlier this week that his death had been classified as a homicide, albeit the classification does not imply guilt or intent. The spokesperson added that at the time, the criminal justice system should make that determination.
According to a witness who videotaped the encounter, Neely was “acting erratically” before the event but had not harmed anyone on the train.
Neely’s passing has sparked demonstrations and brought attention back to the problems of homelessness and mental illness in America.
According to the sources familiar with the case, the DA’s office spent the weekend and the majority of this week reviewing the testimonies of witnesses on the train and video of the incident before deciding to file charges on Thursday afternoon.
Penny’s “indifference” has drawn criticism from Neely’s family, who also call for his detention. The family’s counsel stated that the man did not know anything about Jordan’s past when he purposefully placed his arms around Jordan’s neck and continued to squeeze.
Neely, who rose to fame for his Michael Jackson impressions, had mental health problems starting in 2007 when he was 14 and his mother was killed, according to the family’s lawyers. His friend Moses Harper said he had been shocked by his mother’s violent murder and the subsequent finding of her remains in a bag.
According to a friend and a family, Neely appeared to have struggled lately.
Neely had been listed on an NYC Department of Homeless Services list of the city’s homeless with urgent needs prior to his passing; this list is sometimes internally referred to as the “Top 50” list since those on it have a tendency to vanish.
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Private List of Homeless Individuals Shared to Aid Outreach Organizations
According to the source, the list is typically kept private but is compiled in the hopes that outreach organizations will be on the watch for those people and contact the city’s homeless services department to take action. According to the insider, the organization is more focused on trying to track down folks on the list and provide them with the assistance they require.
Police and military records reveal that Penny is a veteran who served in the US Marines. According to military records, he was a sergeant who served from 2017 to 2021. His last duty station was Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Neely had been “aggressively threatening” passengers, according to a statement released by Penny’s attorneys last week, and Penny and other passengers had “acted to protect themselves.”
They said that Daniel “never intended to hurt Mr. Neely.”
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