Lawyers representing Marine veteran Daniel Penny unveiled a collection of videos on Sunday, wherein Penny recounts the moments leading up to the confrontation with Jordan Neely. According to Penny and multiple witnesses, Neely was allegedly threatening passengers and saying he was “willing to die” before he was restrained. Following the incident, Neely, a career criminal, passed away shortly after being subdued by Penny and two other passengers, resulting in manslaughter charges against Penny.
In the recently released videos presented by Penny’s legal team, the 24-year-old denies the reports claiming that he held Neely in a chokehold for 15 minutes. This specific detail garnered significant attention in the days following the incident, primarily due to a statement made by independent journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez, who claimed to have witnessed the event.
“Some people say that I was holding on to Mr. Neely for 15 minutes. This is not true — between stops is only a couple of minutes. So the whole interaction lasted less than 5 minutes,” Penny clarified.
Subsequent footage emerged, revealing that Penny had released the chokehold and instead positioned Neely in a recovery position, prompting one passenger to thank him for intervening.
While recounting the incident, Penny emphasized that his intention was never to cause harm to Neely.
“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. “I was listening to music at the time, and I took my headphones out to hear what he was yelling,” he continued. “The three main threats that he repeated over and over again were I’m going to kill you, I’m prepared to go to jail for life and I’m willing to die.”
Penny acknowledged feeling intimidated by Neely, who was physically larger than him, and repeatedly yelled in the faces of “terrified” passengers.
“There’s a common misconception that Marines don’t get scared. We’re actually taught one of our core values is courage, and courage is not the absence of fear but how you handle fear,” Penny said. “I was scared for myself but I looked around there were women and children, he was yelling in their faces saying these threats. I just couldn’t sit still.”
“Some people say I was trying to choke him to death, which is also not true. I was trying to restrain him,” he added. “You can see in the video there’s a clear rise and fall of his chest, indicating that he’s breathing. I’m trying to restrain him from being able to carry out the threats.”
Penny strongly denied any allegations suggesting that race played a role in the incident. “I didn’t see a black man threatening passengers, I saw a man threatening passengers, a lot of whom were people of color,” Penny said. At least two additional passengers helped him restrain Neely, neither of whom was white.
“The man who helped restrain Mr. Neely was a person of color,” he pointed out. “A few days after the incident I read in the papers that a woman of color came out and called me a hero. I don’t believe that I’m a hero, but she was one of those people I was trying to protect, who were all scared,” he added.
Penny is facing manslaughter charges following the decision of corrupt Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s Office to pursue prosecution. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 17.
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