Former US Marine charged with manslaughter in New York subway choking death

A former US Marine who held a Black homeless street artist in a fatal chokehold on a New York subway train earlier this month has been charged with second-degree manslaughter.

Daniel Penny, 24, was arrested on Friday and accused of causing the death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely.

The incident, which happened on May 1, 2023, had several eyewitnesses and was filmed by bystanders, sparking protests across New York after the footage became viral.

Penny's lawyers say their client could not have known that his forceful actions, which were meant to subdue the Black man, would lead to the victim's death.

Neely, who reportedly had been telling other subway passengers in a loud tone how hungry he was and asking them for money, was pinned to the ground by the White man who had put a chokehold on him.

Killing of Black man Jordan Neely in New York by white man leads to outcry

The death of a 30-year-old homeless Black man led to widespread outcry and protests in the United States.

Footage of the incident captured by a freelance journalist in the carriage shows the former Marine holding the victim around the neck for two minutes and 55 seconds.

Reports from other sources said that the struggle between the two lasted longer than the footage showed and Penny held Neely in the chokehold for 15 minutes, and only let go after the victim became motionless.

Neely was later found unconscious in the carriage and taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Two other unidentified people, who were also seen restraining Neely in the footage, have yet to be charged.

The city's medical examiner ruled the incident as "homicide" and cited the cause of Neely's death as compression of the neck by choking.

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Penny, who had been questioned and released by police in New York on the day of the incident, later surrendered to police and was arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on Friday after prosecutors lodged criminal charges against him the day before.

Earlier this month, Penny's lawyers expressed condolences to Neely's family and said their client and other passengers had acted in self-defense.

Neely's behavior in the subway was "the apparent result of ongoing and untreated, mental illness", they stated.

Penny and others wanted "to protect themselves until help arrived," Penny's lawyers claimed.

However, a witness at the scene said the victim showed no behavior that was threatening to the subway passengers and was shouting about being hungry and thirsty.

In a statement earlier this week, Neely's family said that the veteran marine needed to be in prison. In the statement, addressing Penny they said, "The family wants you to know that Jordan matters."

US police brutality kills three black men in first 3 days of 2023

Racially motivated killings are happening, once again, in record numbers. The tragic death of Keenan Darnell Anderson after he was tased by police officers in Los Angeles following a car accident has sparked outrage.

In a similar incident on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a 46-year-old Black man named George Floyd died after a white police officer pressed on his neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest.

The handcuffed black man's death triggered months of mass protests, not only in cities across the United States but also in other locations around the world.

African Americans and other ethnic minorities are often subject to harsh discrimination and racial profiling by White supremacists in the United States.

Former US President Donald Trump emboldened White supremacists with his racist remarks during his presidency from 2017 to 2021.

US President Joe Biden, who took the helm in 2021, claimed to be a critic of racial injustice. However, he has failed to eradicate racial discrimination in the country.

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