The ex-marine charged with Jordan Neely's chokehold death has denied trying to kill him in his first interview.
Neely, 30, died on May 1 after being held in a chokehold by former Marine Daniel Penny, 24.
According to Neely's aunt Carolyn, Jordan descended into "a complete mess" after his mother, Christie Neely, was reportedly strangled to death and then stuffed into a suitcase in 2007 when he was just 14, per The New York Post.
It was after this that he sunk into a deep depression and did not receive appropriate treatment for his mental illness.
Neely's death occurred after he began shouting on the subway, complaining that he was hungry and thirsty and sick of having nothing, per a CNN report.
According to the outlet, Jordan died due to "compression of neck," a spokesperson for the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said. While the manner of death was ruled a homicide, this conclusion is not a ruling on intent or culpability, as that is for the criminal justice system to consider.
"This is a solemn and serious matter that ended in the tragic loss of Jordan Neely's life," Manhattan District Attorney's Office spokesperson Doug Cohen said in a statement. "As part of our rigorous ongoing investigation, we will review the Medical Examiner's report, assess all available video and photo footage, identify and interview as many witnesses as possible, and obtain additional medical records."
Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter and subsequently released on bail after the devastating subway incident. In late May, Penny told The New York Post that it was not motivated by racism. He said: "This had nothing to do with race. I judge a person based on their character.
"I'm not a white supremacist. I mean, it's, it's a little bit comical. Everybody who's ever met me can tell you, I love all people, I love all cultures. You can tell by my past and all my travels and adventures around the world. I was actually planning a road trip through Africa before this happened," he added.
Now, in a series of videos released by Penny's lawyers on Sunday (June 11) he denied that he held Neely by his throat for 15 minutes - as has been widely reported - and said he did not intend to take Neely's life.
"Some people say I was trying to choke him to death, which is also not true," he shared.
"The man stumbled on, he appeared to be on drugs, the doors closed, and he ripped his jacket off and threw it down at the people sitting next to me at my left," Penny said in one of the videos.
"I was listening to music at the time, and I took my headphones out to hear what he was yelling," he continued. "The three main threats that he repeated over and over again were I'm going to kill you, I'm prepared to go to jail for life and I'm willing to die."
Penny added: "There's a common misconception that Marines don't get scared. We're actually taught one of our core values is courage, and courage is not the absence of fear but how you handle fear. I was scared for myself but I looked around there was women and children, he was yelling in their faces saying these threats. I just couldn't sit still.
"You can see in the video there's a clear rise and fall of his chest, indicating that he's breathing. I'm trying to restrain him from being able to carry out the threats," he also said.
