Tube passengers admit they were ‘terrified’ before Daniel Penny put ranting homeless man in chokehold

The terrified subway passengers who were on a New York City train with Navy veteran Daniel Penny when he placed a homeless man in a chokehold told his manslaughter trial today how scared they were before he intervened.

Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Michael Jackson impersonator with mental health issues, told passengers he was ready to “go back to Rikers” and “someone is going to die today” when 24-year-old Daniel Penny dragged him to the ground and placed him in a six-minute stranglehold.

Penny’s defense says he never intended to kill the man and that it is not definitive that he is responsible for his death. Neely was still alive on the train when police arrived, but was pronounced dead at the hospital.

On Monday morning, two witnesses took the stand in Manhattan Supreme Court to testify about what they saw leading up to Neely’s death on May 1, 2023.

A 19-year-old high school student, Ivette Rosario, revealed that she buried her head in her friend’s chest and “prayed” for the doors to open when Neely started ranting on the train.

When the train finally reached Broadway Lafayette, she was one of the few passengers to call 911.

Audio of the call was played for the jury. The young girl, who was on her way home from school at the time, told the operator that “there was a man who said he was going to hurt people on the train.”

Speaking of Penny, she said, “This guy stepped in and is holding him down.”

As the audio played, she described Penny’s actions in court as “going the extra mile” for those around him.

In the 911 call, she described the perpetrator’s appearance as “black.”

“The one causing the damage is black,” she said. “They’re holding him.”

Rosario told the court that Neely’s outburst on the train made her so nervous that she thought she was “going to pass out.”

Instead, she buried her head in her friend’s chest and tried to remain calm until they reached the next stop.

During this time, Rosario said she never saw Neely directly approach any passengers on the train, and she understood that he was not directing his frustration at any one passenger in particular.

Defense attorney Thomas Kenniff noted that her head was buried for most of the altercation, meaning she may have missed important physical moments.

But she did remember hearing the threats and comments Neely made.

“It was the tone,” she said.

‘It was scary. It was angry… I was very shaky.”

Rosario recalled Neely telling passengers he was homeless and thirsty. He then started telling people he was ready to go “back to prison.”

She also heard him say that “someone was going to die today.”

Rosario said she rides the subway every day between her home in the Bronx and high school, and is no stranger to seeing outbursts on public transportation.

“I’ve been on a train before where I’ve heard things,” she said. “But nothing like this has ever happened.”

Rosario also filmed a small clip as she got off the train at Broadway Lafayette, moments before calling authorities.

In the video, which was played to the jury in the courtroom, Neely appeared to have stopped moving as Penny held his arm tightly around his throat.

Prosecutors allege an onlooker shouted, “He’s dying, you gotta let go,” but Rosario said she didn’t hear that warning.

A second witness who was on the train, 59-year-old Mexican journalist Juan Vasquez, told the court that Neely began fighting back after initially stopping moving.

“For almost a moment they didn’t move much, and then the battle started,” he said through a Spanish interpreter.

‘Neely tried very hard to break free, desperately moving his legs in an attempt to break free.’

Vasquez provided nearly six minutes of footage of this battle to authorities, revealing on the stand Monday that he is applying for a U visa for his cooperation.

The U visa allows non-Americans to remain in the country if they are the victims of a serious crime or if they help solve a case.

He said he heard about the visa in April or May of this year and contacted an immigration attorney about what I had seen.

That immigration attorney is now working to help Vasquez secure the visa. He said the district attorney’s office must “certify” his assistance, but said he has not received any promise that he will be allowed to live in America long-term in exchange for his cooperation.

Vasquez has lived in the United States for seven years and works as a freelance Spanish-language journalist. He said he sold his footage once after filming the altercation, and received two other offers, but “couldn’t reach an agreement” with the potential buyers.

Prosecutors described his video footage Friday as the “most critical piece of evidence” jurors will see.

Despite being further away from the fight on the train and not speaking much English, Vasquez said he immediately “put on guard” when he noticed Neely’s tone on the train.

He picked up on certain statements – that Neely was hungry and thirsty and what else I understood was that he didn’t care if he was thrown back in jail.”

‘He sounded violent and desperate. The tone of his voice was loud,” Vasquez told jurors.

“I was a little nervous and went into alert mode…a state of alert.”

He said after it became clear that Neely was no longer moving or fighting back — six minutes after the altercation began — Penny stood up, picked up his cap and tried to move one of Neely’s arms to place it underneath it “like a pillow.” it.

Like Rosario, Vasquez had no clear view of the altercation. He heard bodies hitting the ground and the sound of a struggle. But he did not see Penny approaching Neely, nor did he see Neely threatening any specific passengers.

Last week, Penny’s attorney said during opening statements that the then 24-year-old Marine veteran only intervened when Neely was walking toward a woman shielding her son with his stroller and making threats about “dying.”

Penny is charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide.

But body-worn footage of police officers who were first to respond to the scene was played on the opening day of the trial, showing Neely had a pulse when they arrived.

NYPD officers arrived at Fulton Station by train at 2:33 p.m.

Two police officers confirmed that Neely still had a pulse when they arrived.

“I have a heartbeat,” someone said. A second police officer confirmed that he also felt a heartbeat.

Neely was unconscious and lying on the floor of the subway.

When asked how Neely got there, Penny replied, “I kicked him out.”

Despite initially detecting a heartbeat, they gave Narcan – the drug used to reverse opioid overdoses – to Neely – and began CPR at 2:38 p.m.

Police did not attempt mouth-to-mouth resuscitation because Neely was “an apparent drug user … very dirty” and could have vomited on officers if he woke up, NYPD Sergeant Carl Johnson said when he was called to the witness stand .