A former US Marine sergeant was on Wednesday indicted in last month's killing of Jordan Neely, a homeless man, with a chokehold on a subway car in Manhattan, according to a report in The Guardian. Videos posted on social media showed Daniel Penny putting Neely in a chokehold on an F train on May 1. Penny's actions led to a huge debate on social media with most of them criticising him. The 24-year-old was arrested days after the incident and arraigned on May 12.
Penny faces one charge of second-degree manslaughter and another charge of criminally negligent homicide. The former could put him in state prison for up to 15 years, while the second could lead to another four years behind bars, as per The Guardian report.
Judge Kevin McGrath released Penny on a $100,000 bond and ordered him to surrender his passport and to return to court on July 17.
Thirty-year-old Neely struggled with mental illness and some witnesses said he had been acting in "hostile and erratic manner" towards other passengers.
The video from May 1 showed the man flailing his arms and kicking his legs as he attempted to free himself from the chokehold. Two other men were seen standing over them and helping subdue the man.
This chokehold is called a rear naked chokehold in martial arts and is applied from an opponent's back. It is an easy way to submit your opponent or render them unconscious if necessary since it cuts off the oxygen supply to the brain.
Juan Alberto Vazques, a freelance journalist who shot the video, said the chokehold lasted for 15 minutes, even as the train stopped at the Broadway-Lafayette station and the doors opened. All the passengers inside the train car left, except the three who had been working to subdue the man.
Defending his action, Penny had told New York Post that he was acting as a vigilante, insisting: "I'm not a white supremacist... I'm a normal guy."
"I'm deeply saddened by the loss of life. It's tragic what happened to him. Hopefully we can change the system that's so desperately failed us," he had said.
The former US Marine was criticised by Neely's family members, who said he did not even apologise and his statement amounted to "a character assassination".
