A grand jury in New York City has voted to indict Marine Corps veteran Daniel Penny in the choking death of Jordan Neely during a subway ride.
The indictment was confirmed on Wednesday, according to a Reuters report citing local media and unnamed law enforcement sources. The exact charge or charges against Penny remained sealed at the time of publication, although Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged him with second-degree manslaughter last month.
Penny, a 24-year-old white man, was captured on video placing Neely, a Black former street performer with a history of homelessness and mental health issues, in a chokehold that turned deadly during a subway ride in Manhattan on May 1.
The footage sparked outrage and protests with racial and political overtones. Some suggested that Neely's death resembled the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, while others have defended him as a "hero" for thwarting a purported threat from Neely.
In a video statement released by his legal team on Sunday, Penny said that he did not intend to choke Neely and was instead attempting to restrain him following alleged threats to other subway passengers.
Penny disputed an eyewitness claim that he kept Neely in a chokehold for around 15 minutes, while also rejecting suggestions that the incident was racially motivated.
"Some people say that I was holding onto Mr. Neely for 15 minutes," Penny said. "This is not true. Between stops, it was only a couple minutes, so the whole interaction was less than five minutes."
"Some people say that this was about race, which is absolutely ridiculous," he continued. "I didn't see a Black man threatening passengers, I saw a man who was threatening passengers, a lot of whom were people of color."
Donte Mills and Lennon Edwards, attorneys for the Neely family, argued in a statement last month Penny "needs to be in prison" because he knowingly "acted with indifference" during the fatal incident.
"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," the lawyers said.
During a press conference after Penny's arrest, Edwards suggested that prosecutors should have charged the Marines veteran with murder in lieu of manslaughter, saying that he "suggested murder two" when speaking to Bragg's office.
While the exact charges in the indictment are not yet clear, a second-degree manslaughter charge—the charge on which Penny was initially arraigned—carries a possible maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
Penny was released on a $100,000 bond after his arrest last month. A page created for him on the self-described "Christian fundraising site" GiveSendGo had accumulated $2 million in donations to his legal fund within two weeks of Neely's death. The fund at the moment stands at more than $2.8 million.
Newsweek has reached out to Bragg and Penny's attorney Thomas Kenniff via email for comment.
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Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
