Jordan Neely

Jordan Neely, 30, a homeless Michael Jackson impersonator with a documented history of mental illness, died after being placed in a chokehold by Daniel Penny, a 26-year-old former Marine, aboard a New York City subway car on May 1, 2023. Neely had boarded the train agitated and yelling that he was hungry and thirsty and didn't care if he went to jail or died; Penny, seated nearby, approached him from behind and held him in a chokehold for roughly six minutes, continuing even after Neely stopped moving, until police arrived. The medical examiner ruled Neely's death a homicide by compression of the neck. Penny was indicted on manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges; at trial in December 2024, the manslaughter charge was dismissed after the jury deadlocked, and Penny was acquitted on the remaining negligent homicide charge. No one has ever been convicted in Neely's death.

New York, NY · New York County County

• 2023: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The chokehold and Neely's death, per body camera and bystander video, the medical examiner's report, and testimony at Penny's criminal trial.
• Neely boarded an F train at the Second Avenue station visibly agitated, yelling that he was hungry, thirsty, and didn't care whether he went to jail or died; several passengers on the crowded car said they felt threatened, though Neely did not physically touch anyone before Penny intervened.
• Penny, seated behind Neely, approached him and applied a chokehold, bringing him to the floor of the train car and maintaining the hold for approximately six minutes as the train continued to the next station; two other passengers helped restrain Neely's arms during part of the encounter.
• Bystander video captured passengers telling Penny that Neely had stopped moving and that he was going to kill him; Penny continued the hold until police arrived.
• Penny submitted to voluntary police questioning and was released without charge the same day; two days later, the medical examiner ruled Neely's death a homicide by compression of the neck.
• Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter a week after the death and later indicted by a grand jury on an added, lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide; he pleaded not guilty to both.
• At trial in December 2024, jurors deadlocked on the manslaughter charge; at the prosecution's request, the judge dismissed it so the jury could consider only the lesser negligent homicide charge, on which Penny was acquitted on December 9, 2024.
• Neely's father, Andre Zachery, separately filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against Penny alleging assault, battery, and negligence.

• Whether Penny's use of a roughly six-minute chokehold, continued after bystanders warned he was killing Neely, constituted a reasonable use of force to protect other passengers, as the defense argued, or reckless conduct that caused an avoidable death, as prosecutors argued, was the central dispute at trial and was not resolved in the prosecution's favor, since the jury deadlocked on the more serious charge and acquitted on the lesser one.
• The specific reasoning behind the jury's deadlock on manslaughter and its unanimous not-guilty verdict on negligent homicide, beyond the public verdict itself, has not been made available, as jury deliberations are not a matter of public record.
• The outcome of Neely's father's separate civil wrongful death lawsuit against Penny had not been resolved in the sources reviewed for this summary.

• PBS News — “Daniel Penny acquitted in NYC subway chokehold case over Jordan Neely's death”
• CNN — “Daniel Penny acquitted of criminally negligent homicide after more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed”
• Al Jazeera — “Daniel Penny acquitted in New York subway choking death of Jordan Neely”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs