When homeless man Jordan Neely boarded an F train in Manhattan — screaming and flailing his arms — on Monday, no one onboard could have fathomed that his lifeless body would be lying before them on the subway car floor just minutes later.
But that was the grim reality after a straphanger, since identified as 24-year-old Marine, Daniel Penny, stepped in and put him in a tight chokehold, according to harrowing videos, police and witness accounts that emerged in the deadly aftermath.
The tragic ordeal began when the 30-year-old Neely, dressed in dirty sweatpants and a stained white t-shirt, barged into the northbound subway car after the doors opened at the Second Avenue in lower Manhattan just before 2.30 p.m on Monday.
Neely immediately began tossing garbage around and yelling at frightened riders, prompting many to quickly retreat down the subway car, a witness told The Post.
“He started screaming in an aggressive manner,” the witness, Juan Alberto Vazquez, recalled.
“He said he had no food, he had no drink, that he was tired and doesn’t care if he goes to jail.
“He started screaming all these things, took off his jacket, a black jacket that he had, and threw it on the ground.”
As the train traveled one stop below Houston Street Penny at some point came up behind Neely and took him to the ground in the chokehold, Vazquez said.
A flood of frantic 911 calls immediately followed — the first of which was made at 2:26 p.m. reporting a physical fight inside the train car, according to police sources.
Another caller dialed in just one minute later saying someone was threatening riders on the trains, before a third person claimed someone involved in the incident was armed with a knife or gun.
Neither Neely nor Penny — who has not been charged — turned out to be armed, cops said.
Two more calls quickly followed at 2.29 and 2.30 p.m. reporting an assault in progress and threats, respectively.
By the time Vazquez, the witness, pressed record on his phone, the train was stopped at the Broadway-Lafayette Street/Bleecker Street station, the doors were open and Neely was already locked in a chokehold.
Over the next three-and-a-half minutes, the witness’s camera stayed pointed at Neely as Penny locked his armed around his neck.
Another straphanger could be seen stepping in to pin down the homeless man’s arms, while another rider looked on.
After 30 seconds, Neely began to visibly struggle.
He was caught on camera flailing his arms, clenching his fists and trying to grasp at the subway seat — all while Penny kept a tight grip.
At that point, the third straphanger stepped in and helped pin Neely to the floor as the homeless man thrashed his legs around.
“He moved his arms but he couldn’t express anything,” Vazquez said of Neely.
“All he could do was move his arms. Then suddenly he just stopped moving … He was out of strength.”
Witnesses started shouting for people to “call the cops”, the video shows, before a voice came over the subway station’s loudspeaker declaring: “Police, police, your assistance is needed.”
What we know about NYC subway choking victim Jordan Neely
Who was Neely?
Jordan Neely, 30, a homeless man, was strangled aboard a northbound F train just before 2:30 p.m. May 1, according to police.
He reportedly started acting erratically on the train and harassing other passengers before being restrained and ultimately choked by a straphanger, identified as Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old former Marine from Queens.
Penny, who was seen on video applying the chokehold, was taken into custody and later released. He was eventually charged with second-degree manslaughter.
Why is there fallout over Neely’s death?
The city medical examiner ruled Neely’s death a homicide, noting he died due to “compression of neck (chokehold).”
Neely’s aunt told The Post that he became a “complete mess” following the brutal murder of his mother in 2007. She noted he was schizophrenic and suffered from PTSD and depression.
“The whole system just failed him. He fell through the cracks of the system,” Carolyn Neely said.
Who is Penny?
24-year-old former Marine Daniel Penny served as an infantry squad leader and an instructor in water survival while in the Marines Corps from 2017 to 2021, according to his online resume. Penny graduated from high school in West Islip, NY.
He surrendered to authorities 11 days after he placed Neely in a fatal chokehold on an F train.
Just over two minutes into the recording as Neely started going limp, another man — who appeared off camera — could be heard warning the vigilante straphangers that the homeless man had defecated himself.
“You’re going to kill him now, he’s defecated on himself,” he warned.
The straphanger who was restraining Neely’s arms quickly replied “it’s an old stain” on his pants and insisted the Marine was no longer “squeezing.”
“He’s not squeezing? All right. You’ve got to let him go. After he’s defecated himself that’s it,” the man off camera said, warning of a “murder charge.”
Immediately after, the man pinning down Neely’s arms released his grip, asking Neely: “Can you hear me?”
Met with no response, the Marine finally let go of the chokehold just before the video’s three-minute mark. Penny was filmed getting to his feet and leaving a limp Neely on the floor.
“My wife is ex-military, you’ve got a hell of a chokehold man,” the off-camera man could be heard telling him.
Over the next several seconds, Penny and other man involved tried to maneuver the homeless man into the recovery position.
Then, three minutes and 45 seconds into the video, Neely’s body contorted and gave off a deep breath.
At the point, the video ended and it’s unclear if the homeless man ever moved again.
“None of us who were there thought he was in danger of dying,” Vasquez said. “We thought he just passed out or ran out of air.”
He claimed Neely was pinned down for roughly 15 minutes before cops arrived, but Mayor Eric Adams insisted Thursday that first responders were on the scene within six minutes of the first 911 call.
“Police officers were on the scene in six minutes, not 15 minutes, in six minutes, and I want to commend them for their response and how they handled the situation upon arrival,” hizzoner said, adding he had been reviewing body cam footage.
Photos taken at the scene showed cops giving Neely oxygen and chest compressions in the emptied-out subway car.
First responders were unable to revive him, police said.
The Marine was taken into custody and questioned immediately after the incident, but was released later on Monday as the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office continues to weigh whether to bring criminal charges.
Sources previously told The Post that the DA’s office was awaiting the autopsy results before weighing any potential charges.
A grand jury could be empaneled as early as Monday to look into the case, sources said.
The city Medical Examiner’s Office determined Wednesday that Neely’s manner of death was a homicide by compression of the neck.
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
