Photo: Getty Images
Mayor Eric Adams defended Daniel Penny, who is on trial for the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely, saying he hopes the jury will "make the right decision."
On Tuesday (December 3), a Manhattan jury began deliberations on whether to convict Penny, a Marine veteran, for choking Neely, a 30-year-old Michael Jackson impersonator who was homeless, to death on a subway in May 2023.
Penny, who is white, confronted Neely after he allegedly shouted at passengers that he was hungry, thirsty, and didn't care whether he died. The former Marine forced Neely onto the ground and put him in a chokehold until he stopped breathing.
During a recent appearance on 710 WOR's "The Rob Astorino Show," Adams pointed to the "failure" of New York's mental health system, saying Penny did "what we should have done as a city," per the New York Post.
“The young man, in this case, was going within our system, throughout the revolving door of our system. Now, we’re on the subway where we’re hearing someone talking about hurting people, killing people,” Adams said Saturday (November 30).
“You have someone on that subway who was responding, doing what we should have done as a city in a state of having a mental health facility,” he added of Penny.
“Those passengers were afraid. I’ve been on the subway system. I know what it is as a police officer to wrestle or fight with someone. It is imperative that we look at the totality of this problem,” the mayor said.
Adams said he hoped jurors would "hear all the facts" as they consider whether Penny was justified in choking Neely to death. Penny has pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
“Based on all the facts that’s laid out, a jury of his peers will make the right decision. I don’t want to prejudge that,” Adams said.
“That could have easily been a case where you saw three innocent people murdered on our street two weeks ago,” he added, referring to last month's deadly stabbing in Manhattan.
“We have to recognize we have a mental health crisis, and we’re not doing enough to solve it.”
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