Nearly two weeks after Daniel Penny used a fatal chokehold to restrain a man on the floor of a New York City subway car, the 24-year-old will face criminal charges, prosecutors said.
Penny will be arrested and charged for killing Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Black man experiencing homelessness and mental health problems after he had been shouting on board the subway. The white U.S. Marine Corps veteran will face a charge of secondary manslaughter, which could carry a jail term of up to 15 years.
Neely’s violent death sparked days of protests in New York after police questioned the man’s killer but then released him from custody the same day of the incident. Last week, lawyers for Neely’s family drew attention to the fact that the man had suffered from mental health problems since age 14 when his mother was brutally murdered.
BACKGROUND:Who was Jordan Neely, the New York subway victim? A ‘young man in real crisis,’ advocates say
PREVIOUSLY:Jordan Neely NYC subway chokehold death sparks outcry: ‘We’ve got a deep problem’
The law firm Mills & Edwards, LLP could not answer questions about the case Thursday evening, press contact Michelle Watts told USA TODAY.
Lawyers for Penny did not provide any additional information about the charges until Penny is arraigned in a Manhattan criminal court, which they expect to happen Friday.
According to a freelance journalist who witnessed the struggle, Neely had been screaming and saying how hungry and thirsty he was on board the train prior to the takedown but had not physically attacked anyone. Attorneys for Penny previously said their client, along with two other riders who helped restrain Neely, had acted in self-defense.
“Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death,” they said in a statement.