New York prosecutors will charge a former US Marine with manslaughter after allegedly causing the death of a homeless man in the city’s subway. Daniel Penny, 24, will be arrested and formally charged with suffocating 30-year-old Jordan Neely.
The episode had been captured by a freelance journalist in a shocking video of 2 minutes and 55 seconds. According to witnesses, the homeless man was tending an aggressive attitude but had not attacked any passengers when he in turn was attacked by the ex-marine. “We can confirm that Daniel Penny will be arrested on second-degree manslaughter charges,” Manhattan District Attorney’s spokesman Alvin Brag told AFP.
The death of Jordan Neely – widely identified as a Michael Jackson impersonator who often performed on the train – earlier this month sparked outrage among New Yorkers. The images taken in the subway sparked protests from activists and representatives of the left, who clamored for the arrest of the alleged culprit. The video shows Neely on the ground on a subway train while the other man hugs him around the neck. Witnesses said the military would have blocked Neely after the latter had behaved in a harassing way on the train, he had yelled at the passengers to get food and drinks.
The episode touches on two burning issues in America’s financial capital: the many homeless people suffering from mental disorders and residents’ fears for their safety in the subway, but there’s also the racial element because Neely was black and Penny is white. Family and friends told local media that Neely had a long history of mental illness, like many who live on the streets in the country’s largest city of nearly nine million. From what was reconstructed, the man had been arrested dozens of times and his mother had been killed when he was a teenager.
Leftist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said Neely was “murdered.” Protesters — including some who poured onto subway platforms last weekend, prompting several arrests — denounced Neely’s death as an example of white “justiciarism.” Some social media users praised Penny for stepping in, but many criticized the level of force used. The New York City Medical Examiner said Neely was killed by a “compression” of the neck and ruled the death a homicide.