Former U.S Marine Daniel Penny surrendered to police at the 5th Precinct in New York City on Friday morning.
Penny, 24, is charged with 2nd-degree manslaughter in the chokehold death of Michael Jackson impersonator Jordan Neely, a mentally ill homeless man.
Penny was taken from the precinct to a courtroom where he will be arraigned. Second-degree manslaughter carries a sentence of up to 15 years in New York.
He has retained high-profile criminal defense attorney Thomas Kenniff to represent him.
Neely, a 30-year-old schizophrenic, died last week on the F train after being placed in a chokehold at the Broadway-Lafayette station by Penny. Two other riders helped to subdue him.
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Witnesses reported that Neely was screaming threats and throwing garbage on the train before he was restrained. He allegedly threatened to “kill a mother****er” and declared he wasn’t afraid to die.
Neely had a criminal record of 42 arrests, including punching a 67-year-old grandmother in the face and attempting to shove a man onto the tracks.
A 66-year-old female witness spoke anonymously to The New York Post on Thursday evening. She said there are more videos of the incident that she believes will exonerate Penny.
“So I believe that those videos are going to come forward, maybe people will do it anonymously,” she said.
“I hope he has a great lawyer, and I’m praying for him. And I pray that he gets treated fairly, I really do. Because after all of this ensued I went back and made sure that I said, ‘thank you’ to him.”
Watch the video below.
