Daniel Penny, the 24-year-old Marine Corps veteran, has spoken publicly for the first time about the incident on the New York City subway last month, where he put homeless man Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold.

The encounter took place when Neely, who had a history of mental illness, was causing a disturbance on the F train on May 1 by throwing garbage and repeatedly expressing a desire to die or be jailed due to his lack of food. Penny intervened by placing Neely in a chokehold, ultimately leading to Neely’s death.

As Penny faces charges of second-degree manslaughter, he remains resolute in his belief that his decision to intervene was justified. If convicted, he could potentially be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

“If [Neely] had carried out his threats, he would have killed somebody,” Penny said on Fox News.

“Between stops, you’re trapped on the train, and there’s nowhere to go. You can try to move away, but you can only do so much on a packed car,” Penny said. “I was scared. I looked around, and I saw older women and children, and they were terrified.”

He didn’t want to discuss what happened next, likely due to possible legal ramifications.

Since the incident, the former Marine has been deeply traumatized, to the extent that he has avoided using the subway altogether.

A witness recorded a video that lasted approximately three and a half minutes, which already showed Neely being held in a chokehold. Soon after, a second individual immobilized Neely’s arms, while approximately thirty seconds into the footage, Neely began to struggle and make attempts to break free from Penny’s grip. At that point, a third person joined the scene to assist in subduing Neely and keeping him restrained on the floor.

As the video progressed beyond the two-minute mark, Neely’s movements gradually weakened. A bystander off-camera alerted Penny, saying that Neely had defecated himself.

One of the individuals restraining Neely responded by saying that the stain on his pants was an old one, adding that Penny wasn’t “squeezing.”

“He’s not squeezing? All right. You’ve got to let him go. After he’s defecated himself that’s it,” a man off-camera is heard saying.

Subsequently, the individual who had been keeping Neely’s arms restrained released his grip and attempted to communicate with him, asking if he could hear. When Neely did not provide any response, Penny released him.

Shortly thereafter, Penny and the other individual carefully positioned Neely into a recovery posture. The recorded video continued for a duration of three minutes and 45 seconds until Neely’s body contorted, followed by a deep exhalation.

“None of us who were there thought he was in danger of dying. We thought he just passed out or ran out of air,” the witness who recorded the incident said later.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)