Daniel Penny, man accused in deadly F train chokehold, arraigned on manslaughter charge

Correction: Daniel Penny did not enter a plea in today's hearing. This story and headline have been updated.

Daniel Penny, the man who put Jordan Neely in a deadly chokehold nearly two weeks ago, was arraigned on a charge of manslaughter in Manhattan Criminal Court.

Penny, 24, will face up to 15 years in prison if he is found guilty. Supervising Judge Kevin McGrath set bail at $100,000 and ordered Penny to turn over his passports within 48 hours. Penny, who was dressed in a black suit and white button-down shirt, looked straight ahead with his hands in cuffs behind him. He barely spoke, except to answer a few basic questions.

Penny was escorted into a packed courtroom shortly after noon, as throngs of reporters waited outside the doors to the arraignment room and on the sidewalk across the street from the courthouse in Lower Manhattan.

Prosecutors asked for the bail conditions set by McGrath, and defense attorneys did not object – though they noted that Penny had voluntarily turned himself in after cooperating with law enforcement since the incident. They called him a “pillar of his community” and said he received multiple accolades while serving in the Marines, including a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and six ribbons.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office said Penny did not enter a plea Friday.

Neely, 30, was riding the F train toward the Broadway-Lafayette station in SoHo last Monday when he started yelling that he was hungry and thirsty, according to a Facebook post by Juan Alberto Vazquez, an independent journalist who was in the subway car. Vazquez also posted a cellphone video of part of the incident. Vazquez wrote that Neely said he didn’t care if he went to jail or died, and that he threw down his jacket. Then, according to the reporter, Penny put him in a chokehold and took him to the ground.

The cellphone video shows Penny on the ground with his arm wrapped around Neely’s neck as he squirms at first, but then goes limp. Penny kept Neely in the chokehold even after he stopped moving, as others on the train car watched. Two other men also appeared to be helping to restrain Neely. They have not been publicly named or charged.

Penny's attorney said he posted $100,000 bond and was released Friday afternoon.

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What to know

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• The Manhattan DA’s office has charged Daniel Penny with second-degree manslaughter for choking Jordan Neely to death on an uptown F train last week.
• In New York state, second-degree manslaughter charges apply when someone is accused of recklessly causing the death of another person.
• If convicted, Penny could face up to 15 years in prison.
• The DA’s office has not said if it’s considering charges against any other passengers on the train that day, including two other men who appeared to be helping to restrain Neely in a video posted online.
• The case will now go before a grand jury.

The city medical examiner’s office ruled Neely’s death a homicide by compression of the neck.

Neely spent years moonwalking and dancing on subway trains and platforms across the city as a Michael Jackson impersonator. Fans even created a Facebook page to share videos of his performances and try to track him down after they noticed he hadn’t been sighted publicly in a while.

But Neely’s friends and family told Gothamist he had struggled with mental illness after his mother was strangled to death when he was 14. He bounced between homeless shelters and public spaces, like the sidewalks near the Bowery and the Oculus at the World Trade Center. Outreach workers said they had repeatedly tried to get him into permanent housing, without success. He had reportedly been arrested dozens of times.

Attorneys for Penny, a former Marine, said he put Neely in a chokehold to “protect himself and his fellow New Yorkers.” A crowdfunding page to cover Penny’s legal costs has received more than $300,000 in donations.

“The unfortunate result was the unintended and unforeseen death of Mr. Neely,” attorneys Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff said in a statement Thursday night. “We are confident that once all the facts and circumstances surrounding this tragic incident are brought to bear, Mr. Penny will be fully absolved of any wrongdoing.”

Attorneys representing Neely’s family have condemned Penny’s actions and called his characterizations of Neely a “character assassination.” They did not immediately respond to a request for comment following the arraignment.

Next, the case will go to a grand jury to consider the evidence gathered so far and decide whether to indict Penny on manslaughter or any other charge.