Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is expected to file charges against former Marine Daniel Penny as soon as Friday for the suffocation death of homeless Jordan Neely on the New York subway on Monday, May 2, according to our sister network, NBC News.
Neely, a 30-year-old black man who was a dancing subway street performer dressed as Michael Jackson and had mental problems, was homeless when he died after Penny applied a neck wrench during an altercation on the northbound F train.
Jordan Neely dressed as singer Michael Jackson in a 2009 photo in New York.Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News | Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Police officers responded to the subway station on East Houston Street on Broadway around 2:27 p.m. on Monday after receiving a 911 call about a fight, a police spokesman said at the time.
A cellphone video taken by a passenger named Juan Alberto Vazquez shows Penny on the ground with her arm around Neely's neck. Two other men seem to help restrain Neely.
Several New York politicians and state, local and New York lawmakers have spoken out in favor of an investigation into the case.
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Democratic state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal said Friday that police are prohibited from using this neck restraint maneuver and therefore "there is no excuse for a civilian to use lethal maneuver, especially against someone experiencing a mental health crisis."
"While we don't know all the factors, we know this: Jordan Neely should be alive," he said in a statement. "I am confident that [Manhattan District Attorney Alvin] Bragg will use his best judgment in seeking justice for Jordan and his family."