NEW YORK CITY—As the trial of Marine Daniel Penny on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide related to the death of Jordan Neely, a mentally ill homeless individual, resumed on Nov. 8, witness after witness took the stand to testify that Neely’s behavior caused them more fear for their safety than anything before in years of subway riding.
The charges arise from the fact that Neely died after Penny, according to witnesses, came up behind him, put him in a headlock, pushed him to the ground, and they struggled.
But on Nov. 8, lawyers elicited more specific questions about Neely’s conduct and its effect on them.
Witnesses so far have been unanimous that the incident began when Neely entered an uptown F train at the Second Avenue station, immediately began shouting that he was hungry and homeless and did not care if he went back to prison, moved around aggressively, and threw a jacket on the ground with considerable force.
On Nov. 8, witnesses elaborated on what happened that day and described specific threats that Neely had made.
Some of them also expressed their gratitude to Penny for stepping in to protect them.
Under cross-examination from defense lawyer Thomas Kenniff, they said that while Neely lay on the ground in Penny’s grip, they did not hear Neely make any statements to the effect of “I can’t breathe.”
A Rider’s Fears For Her Son
Lori Sitro, a research director at an agency in the city, said the incident was particularly concerning because she had her 5-year-old son with her.She said that a loud commotion began and Neely shouted things that upset her and her fellow passengers.
“He was shouting in people’s faces, ‘I don’t have water, I don’t have food, I don’t have a home, I want to hurt people, I want to go to Rikers, I want to go to prison.’ And he was getting increasingly belligerent,” Sitro said.
Lawyers asked Sitro about Neely’s proximity to other passengers when he made the statements.
She said that Neely did not make physical contact with others on the train, and she did not see a weapon in his hands. Nonetheless, she described his conduct as highly menacing.
“He was getting about a foot right up in their faces, he was lunging at people in different directions. It was very erratic and unpredictable,” she said.
Under questioning from a prosecutor, Sitro performed a brief pantomime of Neely’s moves from the witness stand.
At one point, Sitro said, Neely came within five feet of her and her small son. She said she found Neely’s behavior “very scary, increasingly loud, and it felt increasingly threatening.”
“I would describe it as belligerent and unhinged, and I actually took the stroller that I had and put it in front of my son to create a barrier of sorts. I didn’t know what was going to happen,” she continued.
‘Another Scale of Desperation’
The next witness to take the stand was Dan Couvreur, the founder of a financial startup in the city, who said he grew up in Michigan.Couvreur gave a similar account of how the incident began, saying he moved away from Neely to another part of the subway car, “just because I could tell it was bad.”
He said he had witnessed tense and unpleasant scenes before in his years of living in the city. But, according to Couvreur, Neely’s conduct went far beyond anything in his experience.
“This was just another scale of desperation he had in his voice, the anger, the aggressiveness, and that tone set it above these other situations that I’ve seen,” he said.
“Initially, when he started yelling, he was facing in my direction, just moving his hands in an angry fashion, just to amplify his message,” Couvreur continued.
This prompted him to move to another part of the car. At that point, “Penny stepped in and kind of flipped Jordan Neely onto the ground.”
A Passenger Thanks Daniel Penny
The next witness, Alethea Gittings, who grew up in North Carolina before moving to the city, said she was on her way to a dentist’s appointment when the incident began.Gittings cast into doubt some of the grand jury testimony she had previously delivered, saying that the passage of time since the incident might have clouded her memory about a few things.
But on the stand now, she clearly remembered statements by Neely that upset her.
“If I remember correctly, he said, ‘I don’t give a damn, I’ll kill a [expletive], I’m ready to die,’” she recalled.
Gittings called Neely’s words “very loud, very menacing, very disturbing,” and said that what was unfolding terrified her.
After the subway reached the Broadway-Lafayette station, Gittings said she went onto the platform and attempted to notify station personnel and the police.
She said she thanked Penny for protecting the other passengers from Neely, and that Penny asked her if she would speak to the police about what she had seen unfold. Gittings agreed.
Under cross-examination, Kenniff asked Gittings if Penny had told her what to say to the police. She unequivocally denied that he had done so.
Like the other witnesses, Gittings said the incident went far beyond other unsettling experiences she had while on the subway.
The trial resumes on Nov. 12 with more testimony.
