Witnesses in subway chokehold trial testify victim was acting erratically
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- On Friday, the jury in the subway chokehold trial heard a very different side to what happened on the Uptown "F" train last year, which ended in the death of Jordan Neely.
Witnesses testified they were scared for their lives and thanked Daniel Penny for intervening.
The former marine is charged with Manslaughter after putting Neely in a chokehold on a crowded train.
During the first full week of the Daniel Penny trial, jurors viewed multiple recordings of the same scene of Jordan Neely unresponsive on the floor of the subway car. The people who saw the incident play out, took the stand this week.
"I heard the young man that's on the floor saying, you know hey, I'm willing to die. You know, I'll do anything. I'll go to jail. I don't care. I don't care," Alethea Gittings said on body camera footage.
Alethea Gittings, seen on body camera, testified that she thanked Daniel Penny and that he asked her to tell officers at the precinct, to which she replied, "Of course I will."
"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 body camera footage.
Two witnesses on the stand Friday who left the scene, only coming forward after learning Neely had died.
A mother on the train with her 5-year-old told the court that Neely was "very erratic and unpredictable."
She also said, "My son started asking me questions, 'why did he want to go to prison,' and also testified, "I actually took the stroller that I had and put it in front of my son to create a barrier."
Witnesses this week included two high school students, the train conductor, and a straphanger who testified he tried to pour water on Neely but Penny stopped him from doing so.
Prosecutors are trying to prove Neely's outburst lasted only 30 seconds on the train, but Penny maintained the chokehold for five minutes and 53 seconds, well after other passengers had left the train.
"I definitely believe in justice for my nephew and I think that will occur," Neely's uncle, Christopher Neely said.
"We got to see what this case is all about, and we got to see what the riders on that subway train that were trapped in that underground subway car with Jordan Neely were experiencing," Defense Attorney, Thomas Kenniff said.
The trial will resume on Tuesday, taking a break for the Veteran's Day holiday on Monday.
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