The trial against Marine Corps veteran Daniel Penny is under way, bringing new information to the public about the incident involving Jordan Neely on a New York City subway car last year.
Witnesses for the prosecution have sounded more like they were brought to the court by Penny’s defense team, as they testified on the stand that they were scared of Neely’s rants and threats of violence while they were all trapped on the subway together.
Lori Sitro testified that she used a stroller to barricade her 5-year-old from a “belligerent and unhinged” Neely, the New York Post reported.
Sitro, a longtime subway rider, said, “No, I did not feel safe when he was moving around erratically. I’ve taken the subway for 30 years, and I’ve seen a lot. I’ve seen a lot of unstable people. This felt different to me.”
‘I definitely believe in justice for my nephew, and I think that will occur.’
Another witness, Alethea Gittings, said she “was scared s**tless” when Neely screamed, “I don’t give a damn. I will kill a motherf***er.” She also thanked Penny for intervening by putting him in a chokehold.
“I think this guy was on drugs,” Gittings said of Neely. “You know, because when he came in, he was unbelievably off the charts. He scared the living daylights out of everybody.”
Notably, Gittings told officers on the day of the incident that Penny did not appear to have Neely in a tight chokehold, just tight “enough to secure him.”
“The guy in the tan did take him down, like, very respectfully and just, like, held. He just held him. Yeah, yeah, he just held him. He didn’t choke him,” Gittings said in the body-camera footage.
Testimony also revealed that Penny asked Gittings to provide a statement to police after the incident, which she did. When asked during cross-examination whether Penny told Gittings what to say to the officers, Gittings said he “never” did.
Perhaps the most shocking revelation to come from the trial so far is that New York City police body-camera footage confirms that Neely, while unconscious, was still alive by the time officers responded and Penny had released him from the chokehold. Such evidence casts doubt on the legitimacy of the charges against Penny.
“I definitely believe in justice for my nephew, and I think that will occur,” Neely’s uncle, Christopher Neely, said, according to WABC.
Penny’s trial will resume on Tuesday, after adjourning Monday in observance of Veterans Day. If convicted of manslaughter, Penny faces 15 years in prison.
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