NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York grand jury on Wednesday voted to indict Daniel Penny, a former U.S. Marine sergeant, in last month’s killing of Jordan Neely with a chokehold on a Manhattan subway car, according to local media, citing unnamed law enforcement sources.
Penny, 24, was captured in videos recorded by bystanders putting Neely in a chokehold on May 1 while they rode on an F train in Manhattan. The killing renewed debate about gaps in the city’s support systems for New Yorkers without homes or with psychiatric illness.
Neely, a 30-year-old former Michael Jackson impersonator who struggled with mental illness, had been shouting about how hungry he was and that he was willing to return to jail or die, according to eyewitnesses.
Penny has said he acted to defend himself and other passengers on the train, and did not intend to kill Neely. Witnesses have said Neely did not physically threaten or attack anyone before Penny grabbed him.
Penny made an initial appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court last month on a charge of second-degree manslaughter. The charge or charges brought in the grand jury indictment are expected to be unsealed later.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen and Kanishka Singh)
