The man
accused of killing a
homeless street
artist on a New York City subway
surrendered to police.
There is the pictures of it right there.
He is inside the precinct.
Now, we expect to see him again
very shortly as he heads to court.
Daniel Penney is facing
second degree manslaughter charges
in connection with the death of Jordan.
Nearly, nearly died
after Penny put him in a chokehold
on that subway.
Witnesses say on May 1st nearly
got on the train acting erratically.
They say he was shouting at passengers,
but there are no reports
that he physically attacked anyone.
Then video shows Penny
wrapping his arms around
Neely's neck, forcing him to the ground.
Witnesses say
he held the there for several minutes
until nearly stopped breathing.
His death was ruled a homicide,
though it took nearly two weeks
to file charges.
The video sparked protests and calls
from the city's mayor
to revamp services for the homeless.
Neeley was known by many in New York City
for his Michael Jackson impersonations.
His family tells CNN
he had been suffering
from mental health issues since 2007
when he found his mother's body
inside a suitcase.
In recent years, nearly had been put on
the city's top
50 list of homeless people
with acute needs.
His funeral will be held next Friday.
And Penny's lawyers, Penny's lawyers
have previously said
that he risked his life
to save other passengers.
And just after a penny arrived
at the precinct last hour,
his attorneys
spoke to reporters and cameras
that were standing outside.
CNN's Omar
Mendez is outside the police precinct.
You were there as Penny entered.
What are his attorneys saying today?
Yeah, they're saying a little bit
of what we heard from
and their statements saying
that this was someone their their
their client, Daniel Penny,
was someone who was defending
not just himself,
but those in the subway car around.
Now, people that have been protesting
argue the absolute opposite.
Now, he's
been inside this police precinct
behind me here for about an hour.
He got here a little bit after 8 a.m.
Eastern Time, walked
in, did not say anything,
despite some shouts from reporters
wearing a suit with some vans
as he walked
in, seemed at least calm on the outside.
But of course,
we don't know everything that's happening
on the inside as well,
as we understand,
is to face a charge of second
degree manslaughter.
And shortly
after he went in, his attorney,
one of his attorneys, Thomas Caniff,
came out and gave a statement
which actually may give us
a brief glimpse
into part of their strategy
and their defense here. Take a listen.
It is
dealing with the situation,
like I said, with the sort of integrity
and honor
that is characteristic
of who he is,
characteristic of his honorable service.
In the United States Marine Corps.
And, you know, he has an old head
held up on
for now.
Daniel Penning.
24 year old U.S. Marine veteran.
That's part of why
his attorney referenced that.
And on the other side of things,
Jordan Nealy.
So his family attorneys
are expected to make a statement
a little bit later this morning to react.
But they have been
calling for this arrest
since this happened.
Obviously, it's
been more than a week's time
at this point.
And that's part of what's driven
a lot of the protests here.
That bottom line, people feel that
no matter what happened
leading up to this chokehold,
that they don't feel
this should have resulted in death.
But later
on, he will be in court,
expected to be arraigned
as this process continues.
All right.
We'll check that and it begins.
Thank you, Omar. Appreciate it.
Daniel Penny faces a second degree murder
degree manslaughter charge
in the death of homeless street artist
Jordan Neely.
He is expected to be arraigned
this afternoon.
Kneeling
was known around the city for his Michael
Jackson impersonations
on the day of his death.
Witnesses
say he got on the train shouting
he was hungry
and saying he didn't care
if he died or went to jail.
That's when Penny, pictured here
in a brown jacket
that you see
wrapped his arms around Neely's neck
and took him to the ground.
Witnesses
say he kept nearly in a chokehold
until nearly unconscious
and then stopped breathing.
Penny's attorney says
he was protecting himself
and his fellow subway passengers
Here's what else he said this morning.
Daniel Penny surrendered
at the Fifth Precinct
at the request
of the New York County
District Attorney's Office.
He did so voluntarily
and with the sort of dignity
and integrity that is characteristic
of his history of service
to this great nation.
We are expecting to hear from Jordan
Neely's family in about an hour.
But joining me
now is CNN
chief law enforcement
and intelligence analyst John Miller.
Can we first talk about what happened
this morning?
He walks in, turns himself in,
and then what? So he surrenders.
He is arrested by New York City
police detectives
charged with manslaughter
in the second degree,
which means recklessly
causing the death of another.
Then he goes to arraignment
where the district attorney
will present the charges
to an arraignment court
judge who will determine
whether he needs to set bail
or whether he'll be released.
All right.
The coroner, medical examiner
said look, this was a homicide.
And so I guess
the question to a lot of people is
this happened on May 1st.
We are now well past
that almost a couple of weeks.
Why didn't the arrest happened
right away?
The district attorney
from the day of May 1st
going forward,
wanted more time to look at the case,
which is what is the medical
examiner's say the cause of death was.
And the medical examiner said
it was homicide.
That's not a legal ruling.
That's a medical finding, saying
his death was caused by another.
But also by compression of the neck,
which puts Daniel Penny
squarely in that box.
They also wanted to know,
what did the witnesses say?
Had he assaulted anybody
who was there a self-defense
angle there before going forward?
They could have put it in a grand jury,
let them hear all the evidence
and decide whether to indict.
But yesterday,
they basically said,
we're going to call them in.
We're going to charge him.
We'll put that through a grand jury
and we'll get the wheels of justice
turning because at that point
they felt they had enough information.
I do want to ask you about the indictment
and the chances.
I mean, obviously,
we've sort of seen
some of the evidence on the video,
but there are comments from witnesses
that I'm sure that
the grand jury would have to hear from.
So this is really important.
And it boils down to the two stories
for Thomas Kenniff,
the lawyer, and Daniel Penney.
The story is going to be
he bursts into the car, Mr.
Neely.
He's saying, I'm tired,
I'm thirsty, I'm hungry.
I don't care if I go to jail.
I don't care if I do life
now stop the tape here and say,
what does that mean to Daniel Penny?
Go to jail for doing what?
What is he about to do? Go away for life?
Is he planning to kill somebody? Then
Mr.
Nealy takes his
jacket off, throws it down on the ground,
according to Penny statement,
balls his hands into fists
and he says, I believe
he's about to assault somebody.
So I intervened.
The question is, was holding
someone in that chokehold?
And this is where we get away
from Penny's story
and into the people
of the state of New York versus Daniel.
Penny is no one had been assaulted yet.
He put him in a chokehold
and held him there for several minutes.
He was unconscious and he never woke up.
So should he.
And the post
George Floyd World,
where we've all seen that video
and we know those risks.
Should he have known that his actions
could likely
cause the deaths of death of another?
And that is the crux of this case,
those two sides.
That's something that the grand jury
is going to have to decide.
And then ultimately
the district attorney.
And if it goes to trial, a jury
a complaint has been filed
with the Civilian Complaint Review Board,
and now they're investigating
whether police committed misconduct
by not arresting him,
letting him letting the suspect
go in this case.
What's the latest on that?
What do we know? Well, the civilian
the Civilian
Complaint Review Board
which is an independent agency
from the police department,
received this complaint
and announced yesterday
or confirmed yesterday
that they have a formal investigation
into it.
It's a little far etc.
You're the police department.
You have a person in custody.
You go to the district attorney and say,
what charge will you support?
And they say, we don't know.
You need to hold off
and get more information.
It's going to be very hard
to find misconduct there.
I think it's a little bit of posturing.
Ostensibly, they talk to witnesses
as well.
On the scene that day.
So it will be interesting
to see how that goes forward as well.
John Miller, always a pleasure to speak
to you. Thank you. Thanks.