Newly released body-cam footage taken from a cop responding to the scene where a lifeless Jordan Neely lay on a subway car floor shows a witness telling officers the raving homeless man had been “scared the living daylights out of everybody” moments before.
Alethea Gittings testifies Friday as Jordan Neely’s father watches. Jane RosenbergAlethea Gittings — who told jurors earlier Friday she was “scared s–tless” by Neely’s rantings — can be seen on NYPD Sgt. Kristian Brito’s body cam giving a statement after Penny’s chokehold takedown of the disturbed homeless man.
Footage taken by a witness shows Neely held in a chokehold by Daniel Penny. NYC Courts“I think this guy was on drugs,” Gittings told cops of Neely. “You know, because when he came in, he was unbelievably off the charts. He scared the living daylights out of everybody.’’
Gittings said Penny “took [Neely] to the ground and put him in a chokehold.
“Not a hard chokehold but just enough to secure him,” she said.
Gittings recounted how Neely had been screaming earlier on the crowded uptown F train, ” ‘I’m willing to die! I’ll do anything! I’m willing to die and go to jail! I don’t care!’ ”
Penny arrives at court in Manhattan on Friday. William FarringtonNeely “got belligerent, and [Penny] tackled him down,” Gittings said.
During her testimony, Gittings — a daily subway rider — told jurors she couldn’t see the disturbed man from her vantage point on the train but that she could hear him as his tirade got “louder, much louder.”
She said after, she thanked Penny afterward for intervening.
Penny asked Gittings if she would make a statement to the police, she said.
“Of course I will,” Gittings recalled responding to Penny.
When Penny’s lawyer asked Gittings if the Marine veteran had ever told her what to say to the authorities, she responded, “Never.”
Penny, 26, is charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide and faces up to 15 years behind bars if convicted at trial — which is expected to last six weeks, including the first two weeks of jury selection.
His lawyers have maintained he shouldn’t be held criminally responsible since he was only stepping in to protect straphangers from a volatile Neely.
But prosecutors say Penny recklessly held Neely, 30, in a chokehold for nearly 6 minutes — even though he knew his actions could be deadly, all because he didn’t “recognize his humanity.”
Several prosecution witnesses have testified they were panicked and fearful of Neely and were relieved Penny stepped in.
