Elon Musk has defended Marine veteran Daniel Penny as he prepares for his manslaughter trial in the death of a homeless black man onboard a New York City subway.
Penny, then 24, restrained Michael Jackson impersonator Jordan Neely in a chokehold after witnesses say he began acting erratically on a crowded F train on May 1, 2023.
As his trial kicked off on Monday with jury selection, Musk shared a post on X with a screengrab of a woman complaining that none of the ‘young, fit guys’ on a subway intervened when a man started harassing another woman.
‘This man on the subway was repeatedly harassing a woman, being disgusting, invading her space, etc,’ the original X user wrote. ‘Tell me why me and the other women around tried to intervene and tell him off but all the young, fit guys around just stood silent and looked at the ground.’
Another X user then suggested it is because the men ‘know what happens when they do,’ sharing a photo of Penny outside of the Manhattan Supreme Court, and Musk agreed, writing: ‘This is why.’
Penny, who served four years in the Marines before being discharged in 2021, is now facing charges of manslaughter and negligent homicide, with prosecutors accusing him of ‘recklessly causing the death’ of the 30-year-old street performer by holding him in a chokehold for six minutes – even after Neely went limp.
Witnesses of the incident have said Neely — who struggled with addiction and mental illness — had been shouting and demanding money when Penny approached him.
Penny then pinned Neely to the ground with the help of two other passengers, and placed him in the chokehold, video of the incident showed.
The medical examiner’s office later ruled the death a homicide caused by compression of the neck.
Prosecutors now argue that even though some passengers onboard the crowded train that day were fearful, there were other accounts that undermined ‘the notion of rampant and universal panic,’ according to the New York Times.
‘For me, it was like another day typically in New York. That’s what I’m used to seeing,’ one witness told a grand jury, court filings show.
‘I wasn’t really looking at it as if I was going to be threatened or anything to that nature.’
Prosecutors also noted that none of the witnesses who testified before the grad jury said Neely displayed or claimed to have a weapon or that he came into physical contact with anyone before Penny began choking him, NBC News reports.
Even Penny said he did not see Neely put his hands on anyone or display a weapon before he brought Neely to the ground.
But the former Marine has claimed Neely shouted, ‘I’m gonna’ kill you’ and that he was ‘ready to die’ or go to jail for life.
Penny’s lawyers argue that the Long Island native didn’t intend to kill Neely, just to hold him down long enough for police to arrive.
One of the attorneys, Steven Raiser, said the defense plans to offer up other potential causes for Neely’s death, including high levels of the synthetic cannabinoid known as K2 found in his body.
Police even revealed under oath last month that first responders issued Narcan on arrival, rather than immediately performing CPR.
Defense attorneys will also argue that video shared widely on social media proves Penny was not applying pressure consistently enough to render Neely unconscious, much less kill him.
‘The video’s been cited frequently as supporting the chokehold as going on too long,’ Raiser told NBC New York.
‘But in reality, the video proves that he wasn’t apply pressure and he was holding Mr. Neely.’
The defense is planning to rely on eyewitness accounts to paint Penny as a ‘protector’ amid high crime rates in the New York City subway system, with regular reports of people being shoved onto the tracks or assaulted on station platforms.
‘You have an individual that’s saying that he was frightened by this gentleman, Mr. Neely, and he had to act,’ Raiser said.
‘We have several additional witnesses that came up and say, “Yes, he’s right. That’s exactly how I felt, too.”‘
Additionally, they plan to call a psychiatrist to the stand to discuss Neely’s struggle with untreated schizophrenia.
They say Neely was on a roster, informally known as the Top 50, a list of homeless New Yorkers who stand out for the severity of their troubles and their resistance to accepting help.
However, prosecutors have argued that the ‘only reason’ to drag Neely’s medical records in front of the jury is to get them to ‘devalue Mr. Neely’s life.’
In court on Monday, potential jurors packed into the room 86 people at a time as Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley began the arduous task of determining who should take part in proceedings.
The prospective jurors were asked about their availability for the six-week trial and whether they had heard of the case – which sent shockwaves through the city and divided New Yorkers, at a time of heightened tensions and the progression of the Black Lives Matter movement.
By the end of the day, only 45 prospective jurors out of a pool of 136 Manhattanites were ordered to return Friday to join a larger pool that will ultimately undergo in-depth questioning, according to the New York Daily News.
It is expected they will be asked about their own experiences riding the subway.
After confirming the availability of 100 prospective jurors, the judge will then begin the arduous task of vetting them to narrow that down to the 12-person final jury.
Meanwhile, anti-racism protesters gathered outside the downtown courthouse shouting ‘Murderer! Murderer!,’ along with others who rallied in support of Penny, saying he saved commuters from Neely.
Flyers were handed out describing Penny as a ‘white racist vigilante ex marine’ who ‘killed’ Neely, a ‘Black unhoused performance artist’ who was ‘pleading for food’.
Organizers designed the poster to look like a subway notice while referencing the F line, which was where the incident unfolded.
Demonstrators held signs reading ‘Rest in Power Jordan Neely’ and ‘Abolish the Police’, while counter-protesters wrote: ‘New York Stands with Daniel Penny.’
‘Justice for who? Jordan Neely. When do we want it? Now,’ the group of about 50 shouted.
Those chants were heard inside the Supreme Court building as high up as the 11th floor.
One woman, Imani Henry, of Equality for Flatbush – a Black Lives Matter organization based out of Brooklyn, said she feels Neely’s life had been unfairly minimized and argued the city needs to do more for those with mental health issues and who are living in poverty.
‘Jordan Neely was loved in his communities,’ she claimed.
‘He was a brother, he was a community member, he was a performer – to continue to keep just focusing on his mental health condition is just unfair and wrong because we are not simply one component of our live. We are full and complex people.’
The trial is expected to last until the week of December 9.
Penny faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of second-degree manslaughter and up to four years if convicted of criminally negligent homicide.