Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran charged with manslaughter in the death of a fellow New York City subway rider last month, says he "had to act" because Jordan Neely was threatening people around him. In video clips released by his lawyers, the 24-year-old says he acted in self-defense in a "scary situation," Pix11 reports. "The three main threats he repeated over and over were: ‘I’m going to kill you. I’m prepared to go to jail for life, and I’m willing to die,'” Penny says in his first public remarks since Neely's May 1 death. "I knew I had to act. I acted in a way that would protect other passengers, protect myself and protect Mr. Neely."
"I was scared for myself, but I looked around, I saw women and children. He was yelling in their faces," Neely says. "I didn't want to be put in that situation but I couldn't just sit still and let him carry out these threats." Neely says reports he had the 30-year-old in a chokehold on the floor of the subway car for 15 minutes are incorrect. "Between stops is only a couple of minutes," he says. "So the whole interaction lasted less than 5 minutes." The death of Neely, who had a history of mental illness, was ruled a homicide. The medical examiners office said the cause of death was "compression of neck (chokehold)."
Penny, who is white, says he was trying to restrain Neely, not choke him to death—and he says race was not a factor, CBS reports. "I didn't see a Black man threatening passengers," he says. "I saw a man threatening passengers, a lot of whom were people of color." Conservatives have rallied around Penny and a Christian website has raised almost $3 million for his defense. Neely's relatives say Penny should have been charged with murder. (More Daniel Penny stories.)
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