Witnesses in NYC subway chokehold trial are sharply divided over Daniel Penny's actions
A violent encounter on an uptown F train that divided New Yorkers is now dividing the Manhattan courtroom where a man stands trial on manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges.
Daniel Penny put Jordan Neely in a chokehold on the subway in May 2023, after Neely yelled that he was hungry, thirsty and ready to die or go to jail, according to witnesses. Penny continued to hold Neely for about six minutes, and Neely was pronounced dead soon after. A video that captured several minutes of the chokehold and its aftermath went viral, leading some viewers to praise Penny and others to call for his criminal prosecution. Witnesses who were at the scene voiced those same diverging perspectives during testimony at Penny's trial on Thursday.
One witness who was on the train described Neely as "satanic" and said she was relieved when Penny restrained him.
"If he had gotten up, who would have known what he would have done," Caedryn Schrunk told the jury.
But a man who stumbled into the chaos at the Broadway-Lafayette station described Penny, not Neely as the villain. Johnny Grima repeatedly referred to Neely's death as a "murder" and said Penny told him to stop when he tried to pour some water on Neely's head.
"That's weird. That's wrong," Grima said of Penny, adding: "You're not a police officer."
The defense's cross examinations grew tense at times. A teenager who was on the train began to cry and dab her eyes with a tissue as attorney Thomas Kenniff pointed out discrepancies between her testimony on the stand and statements she made to the grand jury. When Grima was cross-examined, he leaned back, tilted his head to the side and asked for more water during one particularly heated exchange.
Onlookers crowded into the wooden benches in the gallery, and their emotions occasionally cut through the typically sterile courtroom environment. As a witness testified about Neely's condition when Penny let go of him, a woman sitting in the back began to sob and was escorted into the hallway.
Neely's father, Andre Zachery, leaned forward with his head down while jurors watched a bystander video of the incident.
