NEW YORK (NewsNation) — The ex-Marine who is charged with killing a homeless man on a New York subway said he wasn’t “trying to choke him to death” when he jumped into action after the man threatened passengers on May 1.
Daniel Penny’s lawyers released four short video clips Sunday giving the 24-year-old’s side of the story.
In a series of videos, Penny reiterated his claim that he placed Jordan Neely, 30, in a fatal chokehold out of self-defense, and said he had no intention of taking Neely’s life in what he called a “scary situation.”
“The man stumbled on, he appeared to be on drugs, the doors closed, and he ripped his jacket off and threw it down at the people sitting next to me at my left,” Penny recounted in the video.
“The three main threats he repeated over and over were: ‘I’m going to kill you. I’m prepared to go to jail for life, and I’m willing to die,’” Penny said. “I knew I had to act. I acted in a way that would protect other passengers, protect myself and protect Mr. Neely. I knew this chokehold to place my hand on top of his head. His chest rising and falling. He was still breathing.”
Penny said he held Neely in a chokehold for less than five minutes, not for 15 minutes, as a witness who recorded the deadly encounter had claimed. The video posted online was only a few minutes long.
He also maintained that the incident has nothing to do with race.
“I didn’t see a Black man threatening people. I saw a man threatening passengers, a lot of them people of color,” Penny said.
Penny is charged with manslaughter after he was caught on video restraining Neely in a fatal chokehold on an F train. Neely died from “compression of the neck,” according to the medical examiner’s office.
Penny’s lawyers said a grand jury is weighing evidence on whether to indict Penny on a second-degree manslaughter charge. They also said Penny didn’t make the video statements because of the grand jury, but because he wanted to set the record straight.
“If the misconceptions remain out there too long, it becomes part of people’s memory of the case,” said Penny’s attorney, Steve Raiser.
Neely’s family attorney disagrees with the Marine veteran’s narrative of what happened.
“Daniel Penny wasn’t attacked, he wasn’t hit. But he put him (Neely) in a chokehold. He came up from behind and he didn’t let Jordan go for 15 minutes,” said attorney Donte Mills.
While speaking at Neely’s funeral, the Reverend Al Sharpton said, “A good Samaritan helps those in trouble. They don’t choke him out.”
NewsNation affiliate WPIX contributed to this report.