Jordan Neely – latest: Family slams Daniel Penny’s ‘admission of guilt’ as 13 arrested in subway protest

Attorneys for the family of Jordan Neely have criticised a statement released by the firm representing Daniel Penny after the 30-year-old homeless street performer was fatally choked on a New York Citysubway on 1 May.

Neely was placed in a chokehold by the 24-year-old former Marine on a Manhattan F train after Neely allegedly threatened passengers. No charges have been filed. The Manhattan district attorney’s office is investigating.

Attorneys for Mr Penny said in a statement on Friday that he “never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death” after Mr Penny and two other passengers “acted to protect themselves”.

On Monday, attorneys for Neely’s family called the statement an “admission of guilt” and neither “an apology nor an expression of regret”.

The incident has sparked debates, protests and vigils across New York and on the city’s subway platforms, demanding justice in the days after the fatal incident and stressing the failure of a system meant to support people like Neely. At least 13 people were arrested in connection with a protest on Saturday at the Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street stop.

Key Points

• Jordan Neely’s family attorneys condemn ‘admission of guilt'

• 13 arrested in subway protest

• Jordan Neely struggled after his mother’s murder, family attorney says

• Ex-Marine hires Alvin Bragg’s former rival as prosecutors weigh charges

• Chokeholds banned by most police and federal agencies

New York prosecutors investigate Jordan Neely’s death as ex-Marine hires Alvin Bragg’s former rival

07:00 , Alex Woodward

A potential criminal charge against Daniel Penny could include second-degree manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide, according to legal experts.

Under New York’s “justification” law, a person can use physical force when their safety is at risk, including during incidents of self defense or the defense of a third party.

Prosecutors or a grand jury likely will determine, after reviewing evidence from witness testimony and surveillance cameras, whether there was any such justification.

Mr Penny is being represented by the firm Raiser and Kenniff; Thomas Kenniff unsuccessfully ran for Manhattan district attorney as a Republican in 2021, ultimately losing to Alvin Bragg, who received more than 82 per cent of the vote.

Prosecutors investigate Jordan Neely’s death as ex-Marine hires Bragg’s former rival

Law enforcement agencies largely ban chokeholds

06:00 , Alex Woodward

Lethal chokeholds like the the one that led to Jordan Neely’s death are increasingly banned in police departments across the country.

More than half the nation’s law enforcement ment agencies explicitly ban the use of neck restraints, also known as “carotid restraints” and more commonly referred to as chokeholds or strangleholds.

The US Department of Justice instituted a federal-wide policy that explicitly forbids them in 2021.

The subway passenger who tackled and choked Neely last Monday appeared to use a similar lethal restraint. The New York City medical examiner determined that the compression against his neck caused Neely’s death, which was ruled a homicide.

Those restraints can compress the trachea, which blocks air to the lungs, and the carotid arteries on the side of the neck, major vessels that provide blood to the brain.

Cutting off that blood flow can make someone lose consciousness within seconds and kill them within minutes. Losing consciousness also can be an indication of brain injury.

‘New York was not a ‘safe city’ for Jordan Neely

04:00 , Alex Woodward

Noah Berlatsky writes:

New York was not safe for Jordan Neely | Voices

Everything we know about the ex-Marine filmed choking Jordan Neely in fatal subway incident

03:00 , Alex Woodward

In a statement shared with The Independent at 7.30pm on 5 May, attorneys for Daniel Penny said that when Jordan Neely “began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived.”

“Daniel never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death,” the statement added. “For too long, those suffering from mental illness have been treated with indifference. 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.”

Here is what we know about the 24-year-old former US Marine, who has not been charged with any crime connected to the incident:

Everything we know about Daniel Penny, filmed fatally choking Jordan Neely

Jordan Neely struggled after his mother’s murder, family attorney says

02:00 , Alex Woodward

Jordan Neely suffered from “demons” after his mother was murdered in 2007, according to a lawyer for the family.

Neely was 14 years old when his mother Christine Neely was strangled, stuffed in a suitcase and left on the Henry Hudson Parkway in New York by her former partner.

Family members say he fell into a deep depression and never fully recovered from the tragedy, and was homeless at the time of his death.

Jordan Neely struggled after his mother’s murder, family attorney says

Protesters return to subway platform where Neely died, one week later

01:00 , Alex Woodward

One week after Jordan Neely’s death, protesters have returned tothe Broadway-Lafayette subway station where the train carrying Neely had arrived.

A large police presence has arrived at the station, where demonstrators have also set up a candles and gave remarks.

At least 13 people were arrested during a demonstration demanding justice for Neely’s death on Saturday.

Will a grand jury be involved?

Tuesday 9 May 2023 00:30 , Alex Woodward

Prosecutors could bring manslaughter charges against a subway passenger who choked a homeless man to death, according to legal experts, as New Yorkers plead for justice in the wake of the killing of Jordan Neely on a Manhattan F train.

A grand jury could determine whether criminal charges are brought against the man who was filmed with his arm wrapped around Neely’s neck, according to officials speaking with several New York outlets.

A law enforcement official close to the investigation told ABC News that the case is likely to go to a grand jury, which would convene to determine whether criminal charges are warranted.

Prosecutors investigate Jordan Neely’s death as ex-Marine hires Bragg’s former rival

MTA chief urges passengers to ‘deescalate'

Monday 8 May 2023 23:00 , Alex Woodward

Janno Lieber, head of the MTA, said on Friday that he is waiting a decision from prosecutors in the death of Jordan Neely, but urged passengrs to “find a way to deescalate” if “challenges” emerge on the subways.

“We’re gonna renew our efforts to make sure that people understand that when you’re in the subway together, they’re going to be challenges, when you’re in the public space together there are going to be challenges, but we have to find a way to deescalate,” he said.

He called the video showing Neely’s final moments while he is placed in a chokehold “really troubling and upsetting.”

Emergency calls from MTA outline response to chokehold incident

Monday 8 May 2023 22:28 , Alex Woodward

An F train operator called the MTA’s Rail Control Center at 2.25pm on 1 May to report an unruly passenger was being subdued by other passengers, according to an outline of the response to Jordan Neely’s death from the city’s public transit agency.

Two minutes later, the centre notified police and other MTA personnel.

At 2.36pm, the train operator reports that NYPD arrived on the scene, waiting for EMS.

NYPD declared the train a crime scene at 2.47pm. Neely was pronounced dead at Lenox Health Greenwich Village.

Full story: Jordan Neely family attorneys call statement from Daniel Penny’s legal team ‘character assassination

Monday 8 May 2023 21:30 , Alex Woodward

Attorneys for the family of Jordan Neely have criticised a statement from the legal team representing Daniel Perry, the 24-year-old former US Marine who placed the 30-year-old homeless street performer in a fatal chokehold on a Manhattan subway car one week ago.

“Daniel Penny’s press release is not an apology nor an expression of regret. It is a character assassination and a clear example of why he believed he was entitled to take Jordan’s life,” reads the statement on 8 May from attorneys Donte Mills and Lennon Edwards.

Jordan Neely family attorneys condemn statement from Daniel Penny’s legal team

Eric Adams has not talked to Neely’s family, attorneys say

Monday 8 May 2023 20:51 , Alex Woodward

A statement from attorneys for the family of Jordan Neely suggests that Mayor Eric Adams has not talked with the family in the wake of his death.

“Mayor Eric Adams please give us a call. The family wants you to know that Jordan matters,” attorneys Donte Mills and Lennon Edwards wrote in a joint statement on Monday morning.

The Independent has requested comment from the mayor’s office.

The mayor is no stranger to public comment about subway violence, but he has declined to condemn lethal violence when it comes to the passenger who put Neely in a fatal chokehold.

“Each situation is different and how a passenger. We have so many cases where passengers assist other riders,” he said on CNN last week. “We cannot just blatantly say what a passenger should or should not do in a situation like that, and we should allow the investigation to take its course.”

Neely’s death is a ‘wake-up call’ for urgent response to mental health crisis, governor says

Monday 8 May 2023 19:45 , Alex Woodward

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the death of Jordan Neely should serve as a “wake-up call” for government officials to urgently respond to a growing mental health crisis.

Her remarks on Monday came as she announced a $1bn pldge to update the state’s mental health programmes.

“People fall through the cracks. Sometimes they’re visible, sometimes you see them,” she said in remarks from Buffalo.

“And we think about the young man, Jordan Neely, who was in New York City in the throes of a crisis who was tragically killed on the subway this week. His death is clear evidence that we need support,” she added. “We need alternatives for these individuals so they’re not regulated to that kind of life. So those of us in government, it is a wake up call.”

Prosecutors meeting with detectives, medical examiner

Monday 8 May 2023 18:45 , Alex Woodward

Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office met to discuss the case over the weekend, according to CNN, and meetings are planned with detectives and the office of the medical examiner to determine next steps in an investigation into Neely’s death.

The district attorney’s office told The Independent last week that “senior, experienced prosecutors” are investigating Neely’s death.

“This is a solemn and serious matter that ended in the tragic loss of Jordan Neely’s life,” press secretary Douglas Cohen said. “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.”

The investigation is reportedly being led by veteran homicide prosecutor Joshua Steinglass.

A criminal charge in Jordan Neely’s death could hinge on outcome of 1980s case

Monday 8 May 2023 18:25 , Alex Woodward

Prosecutors could weigh criminal charges against the man who put Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold, though that likely will not include the charges of murder.

Charges could depend on whether a “reasonable” person would have acted similarly, according to legal experts.

A person who uses deadly force must not only prove that they feared for their own life or someone else’s but that any reasonable person would have felt the same way, under New York’s penal code.

“Suppose the Marine says, ‘I honest to God thought I had no choice but to save someone,’ the question would be whether an objectively reasonable person in his circumstances would have felt the same,” according to Mark Bederow, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan, speaking to NBC New York.

The state’s highest court clarified that statute in 1986 in a case involving the Bernhard Goetz’s 1984 shooting of four teenagers on a subway.

The white pasenger shot four young Black men after one of them asked him for $5. He claimed that he thought he was being robbed. A jury ultimately acquitted Goetz of attempted murder but convicted him of carrying an unlicensed handgun.

Who is Daniel Penny?

Monday 8 May 2023 17:55 , Alex Woodward

A former US Marine who choked Jordan Neely to death on a New York City subway car has been identified as 24-year-old Daniel James Penny.

In a statement shared with The Independent at 7.30pm on 5 May, attorneys for Mr Penny said that when Neely “began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived.”

“Daniel never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death,” the statement added. “For too long, those suffering from mental illness have been treated with indifference. 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.”

What we know:

Everything we know about Daniel Penny, filmed fatally choking Jordan Neely

The man who filmed the fatal chokehold explains what he saw

Monday 8 May 2023 17:27 , Alex Woodward

Journalist Juan Alberto Vasquez was traveling on the F train on his way from Brooklyn to Yonkers and intended to switch trains at the Broadway-Lafayette stop in Manhattan when he filmed Daniel Penny wrapping his arm around Jordan Neely’s neck in a chokehold for several minutes. Neely’s death was ruled a homicide by the city’s medical examiner due to the compression against Neely’s neck.

He told Curbed that Neely arrived on the train when it stopped at Second Avenue, stood in the middle of the train car, and then “started yelling that he didn’t have food, that he didn’t have water” and that “he was tired, that he didn’t care about going to jail.”

“I tried to start filming from that moment, but I didn’t because I couldn’t see anything — it was too crowded. And then I heard him take off his jacket. He bundled it up and just threw it on the floor, very violently. You could hear the sound of the zipper hitting the floor,” he added. “At that moment, when he threw the jacket, the people who were sitting around him stood up and moved away. He kept standing there and he kept yelling.”

At that moment, Mr Penny “came up behind him and grabbed him by the neck,” he said.

“They both fell. And then in like 30 seconds, I don’t know, we got to Broadway-Lafayette, and they were just there on the floor,” he said. “You ask how many people out of 100 would have dared to do something like that, and I think that 98 will say: ‘No, I would wait to see one more sign that indicates aggression.’”

Neely had testified at the trial of his mother’s killer

Monday 8 May 2023 16:58 , Alex Woodward

Jordan Neely was 14 years old when his mother was murdered by her boyfriend.

That man, Shawn Southerland, refused to let Neely into a bedroom at the home to say goodbye before going to school, Neely testified to the court in New Jersey when he was 18 years old.

Southerland was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the crime.

“He had to live with the fact that he left his mother dead in their home. So, that’s a lot to live with and he had troubles with that. But throughout his life, he was determined to make other people happy and that’s what he did,” Neely family attorney Donte Mills told MSNBC on 7 May.

Following his mother’s death, “he didn’t care anymore after that,” his father Andre Zachery told The New York Daily News. “They were very close. He loved her so much that he just lost it. After we buried her, he just wasn’t the same anymore.”

He dropped out of high school some time after that, according to the family.

Jordan Neely was known among outreach workers on a ‘top 50’ list

Monday 8 May 2023 16:39 , Alex Woodward

Jordan Neely appeared on a list maintained by the New York City Department of Homeless Services known internally as the “top 50”, noting unhoused individuals with acute needs, according to CNN and The New York Times.

The list is maintained because those individuals tend to disappear, and outreach workers can know to notify the agency if they come into contact with them, the outlets reported.

The Independent has requested comment from Homeless Services.

Who was Jordan Neely?

Monday 8 May 2023 16:19 , Alex Woodward

After his mother was murdered in 2007, Jordan Neely appeared to slip through the cracks of New York social services and healthcare facilities. He came to be known as an expert Michael Jackson impersonator, honing his act on the subway and in Times Square, his skills evident in a number of videos widely shared on social media in the wake of his death.

He also was known among social work teams involved in outreach to New York’s homeless community, and faced arrest numerous times, mostly for minor infractions like jumping turnstyles.

Neely was reportedly suffering a mental health crisis at the time of his death, with outreach workers noting his spiraling behaviour in the days leading up to the moment another passenger placed him in a fatal chokehold. He was killed on 1 May.

Jordan Neely, the man killed in a NYC subway chokehold

Neely’s family attorneys slam statement from Penny’s attorneys as ‘admission of guilt'

Monday 8 May 2023 14:39 , Alex Woodward

Attorneys for the family of Jordan Neely has criticised a statement from the firm representing Daniel Penny, accused of killing Neely using a fatal chokehold on a Manhattan subway one week ago.

“Daniel Penny’s press release is not an apology nor an expression of regret. It is a character assassination and a clear example of why he believed he was entitled to take Jordan’s life,” according to the statement from attorneys Donte Mills and Lennon Edwards, who called the statement from Mr Penny’s attorneys “an admission of guilty”.

The statement from Mr Penny’s attorneys said Neely “had a documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness” and “began aggressively threatening” Mr Penny and others. The statement says Mr Penny and other passengers “acted to protect themselves, until help arrived” and “never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death.”

“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,” Neely’s family attorneys stated.

“In the last paragraph, Daniel Penny suggests that the general public has shown ‘indifference’ for people like Jordan, but that term is more appropriately used to describe himself. It is clear he is the one who acted with indifference, both at the time he killed Jordan and now in his first public message,” the statement added.

“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,” the attorneys said.

13 arrested in subway protest

Monday 8 May 2023 13:00 , Bevan Hurley

Protesters flooded the NYC subway system to demonstrate against the killing of Jordan Neely, with at least seven people arrested after clashes with police.

Dozens of demonstrators leapt on to subway tracks at Lexington Avenue and East 63rd St at around 6.30pm, forcing a Q train driver to slam on the brakes as he entered the station, according to a video posted to Twitter.

Thirteen protesters were arrested on charges including resisting arrest, assault, trespass and unlawful interference of a railroad train, the NYPD said.

New York was not a ‘safe city’ for Jordan Neely

Monday 8 May 2023 12:00 , Bevan Hurley

Noah Berlatsky writes for The Independent:

“On Monday, a Black houseless man with a history of mental illness, Jordan Neely, was shouting at passengers on the New York subway. Witnesses said he did not physically assault or harm anyone. But a so-far unnamed white 24-year-old ex-Marine decided Neely needed to be subdued. He put him in a neckhold and, as bystanders watched, he choked Neely to death.

New York was not safe for Jordan Neely. Democratic State Senator Julia Salazar compared his horrific killing to a lynching – the public extermination of a Black, marginalized person in the name of restoring public order.

Though Neely was not killed by the police, his death painfully shows how mainstream rhetoric of policing, order, and safety all frame marginalized people as innately unsafe. From this viewpoint, “safety” means hiding, quelling, or even outright eliminating certain marginalized populations – Black people, homeless people, mentally ill people, poor people.

Conservatives and centrists often attack progressives for not being sufficiently concerned with public safety. “Defund the police” is caricatured as a reckless abandonment of public order. It’s attacked as an unserious, utopian endeavor by people who don’t care about the safety of (supposedly) normal people.”

New York was not safe for Jordan Neely | Voices

Jordan Neely struggled after his mother’s murder, family attorney says

Monday 8 May 2023 11:00 , Bevan Hurley

Jordan Neely suffered from “demons” after his mother was murdered in 2007, a lawyer for his family says.

Attorney Donte Mills told Al Sharpton on MSNBC’s PoliticsNation that Neely had been living with his mother and her boyfriend Shawn Southerland at the time of her killing.

He learned his mother had died and tried to say goodbye to her before leaving for school, but was blocked from entering her bedroom by Southerland.

“He had to live with the fact that he left his mother dead in their home,” Mr Mills told MSNBC.

“So, that’s a lot to live with and he had troubles with that.”

Jordan Neely struggled after his mother’s murder, family attorney says

New York prosecutors investigate Jordan Neely’s death as ex-Marine hires Alvin Bragg’s former rival

Monday 8 May 2023 09:00 , Bevan Hurley

Prosecutors could bring manslaughter charges against a subway passenger who choked a homeless man to death, according to legal experts, as New Yorkers plead for justice in the wake of the killing ofJordan Neely on a Manhattan F train.

A grand jury could determine whether criminal charges are brought against the man who was filmed with his arm wrapped around Neely’s neck, according to officials speaking with several New York outlets.

A law enforcement official close to the investigation told ABC News that the case is likely to go to a grand jury, which would convene to determine whether criminal charges are warranted.

Detectives have reportedly interviewed several witnesses and are looking to talk to “four or five more” who were close to the scene, according to the network.

Daniel Penny, who was filmed with his arm around Neely’s neck, has retained legal representation from attorneys with the firm Raiser and Kenniff. Mr Penny has not been charged with any crime.

Alex Woodward has more details.

Prosecutors investigate Jordan Neely’s death as ex-Marine hires Bragg’s former rival

Jordan Neely testified at trial after his mother was murdered in 2007

Monday 8 May 2023 08:00 , Bevan Hurley

Relatives of Jordan Neely have spoken out following the killing of the 30-year-old homeless man in an incident on the New York subway.

His father, Andrew Zachary, told The New York Daily News that Neely’s mother had been murdered by her boyfriend when he was 18 years old, back in 2007.

Christie Neely’s boyfriend was reportedly convicted in 2012 of strangling her and was sentenced to three decades behind bars.

Gustaf Kilander has more details.

Relatives speak out after Jordan Neely subway chokehold killing

Jordan Neely identified as NYC’s list of ‘homeless individuals with dire needs’

Monday 8 May 2023 07:30 , Namita Singh

Jordan Neely was on a list of homeless people identified as having dire needs, reported CNN citing sources.

The list, maintained by the New York City Department of Homeless Service, though not made public, is compiled in the hope that outreach organisations will lookout for the individuals and inform the department in case there is a need for intervention.

Kayleigh McEnany mocks protesters marching against killing of Jordan Neely

Monday 8 May 2023 07:00 , Bevan Hurley

Fox News anchor and former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany appeared to use racist tropes to mock demonstrators who took to the street in New York City in recent days to protest the killing of Jordan Neely, a Black homeless man who was choked to death by a white former Marine.

On Friday, after showing a clip of activists chanting, “What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now” and other slogans to the beat of a drum, Ms McEnany cracked a smile and said, “Well, at least they have rhythm,” eliciting laughs from her cohosts.

The Fox anchor also condemned people who have “already made up their minds” about the killing, in which 24-year-old Daniel J Penny was filmed choking Neely for an estimated 15 minutes.

Kat Abughazaleh, an analyst at watchdog group Media Matters for America, said Ms McEnany’s rhetoric “mocks Black people protesting the killing of Jordan Neely.”

Ms McEnany didn’t know what race the protesters were and didn’t actually see the video being played on air when she made her comment, the anchor said in a statement to The Independent through a network spokesperson.

Josh Marcus has the story.

Kayleigh McEnany mocks Jordan Neely protests on Fox: ‘At least they have rhythm’

Police ask for photographs and videos of Jordan Neely death

Monday 8 May 2023 05:00 , Bevan Hurley

The NYPD are appealing for information, photographs, or video of Jordan Neely’s death at the Broadway-Lafayette Street subway station last Monday.

Mr Neely’s death has been ruled a homicide, and the man who placed him in a chokehold as been identified as former US Marine Daniel Penny.

Manhattan prosecutors are investigating his death.

Who was Jordan Neely?

Monday 8 May 2023 04:00 , Bevan Hurley

After his mother was murdered when he was 14, Jordan Neely became an expert Michael Jackson impersonator, performing on the subway and in Times Square, his skills evident in a number of videos widely shared on social media in the wake of his death.

Joe Sommerlad reports.

Jordan Neely, the man killed in a NYC subway chokehold

Watch: Sean Hannity audience member ‘cheers’ NYC subway rider who killed homeless passenger

Monday 8 May 2023 03:00 , Bevan Hurley

A Fox News audience member cheered as Sean Hannity referred to a US marine who placed a homeless passenger in a chokehold on the New York City subway.

Jordan Neely was pinned to the ground on Monday, 1 May, after apparently suffering a mental health episode and later died.

As the host played footage of the incident, he said: “After making violent threats... a mentally ill homeless guy with a long history of violent crime was, well, subdued by a bystander, a 24-year-old Marine vet.”

Sean Hannity audience member ‘cheers’ NYC subway rider who killed homeless passenger