A US Marine Corps soldier turned himself in to New York City police on Friday and is set to face charges of “manslaughter” for strangling a known homeless man in the city, news footage was filmed on the subway on May 1 and shocked .
• Also read: ON VIDEO | Homeless Michael Jackson impersonator strangled by passenger on subway train
Daniel Penny, 24, dressed in a gray suit over a white shirt, walked into the Chinatown police station in lower Manhattan with his lawyers, an AFP photographer noted.
The young man, who is no longer an active soldier, has “his head held high” and “comes in with the integrity and honor that characterizes him,” his aide Thomas Kenniff told the press.
Mr. Penny was scheduled to appear before a New York judge in the afternoon.
On Thursday evening, the New York City Attorney’s Office for Manhattan announced Friday’s “arrest” of the soldier and his “indictment in Manhattan Criminal Court” on charges of “manslaughter.”
- Hear journalist Alexandre Moranville comment on his daily live coverage at 12:55 p.m. above QUB radio :
According to the city’s forensics department, Mr Penny is suspected of causing the May 1 death from “compression” in the neck of 30-year-old Jordan Neely.
Mr. Neely, an African American living on the streets of Manhattan, was known for a decade for his likeness and performances that mimicked those of music and dance legend Michael Jackson (1958-2009).
It is a video of the drama, broadcast by all the press, that caused strong emotions in New York.
It shows the victim on the ground in a subway car for five minutes, with Mr. Penny lying behind to tie him up and crush his torso.
SCREENSHOT/JUAN ALBERTO VAZQUEZ/CNN
Passengers standing over the two men appear unsteady, others vaguely attempt to block the struggling Mr Neely’s arms.
A witness told AFP that Mr Neely stormed into the car, yelled at the passengers and asked them for something to eat or drink.
Mr Neely, whose family spoke in the press, is a homeless man who has been arrested dozens of times, including for making noise on the public road. He suffered, like many homeless people, from psychiatric disorders in a big city of 8.5 million and catastrophic socioeconomic inequalities.
The left has spoken out on the case, New York House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has denounced a “murder,” and demonstrations have erupted in Manhattan and Brooklyn.