Wordt Vervolgd (Daniel Penny)

Hoe zat dat ook alweer. Oh ja, de door de media opgevoerde onfortuinlijke 'Michael Jackson imitator' waarvan een verwaarloosbaar detail was dat hij al meer dan 40 (!) keer gearresteerd is en er nog een actief arrestatiebevel voor "felony assault charges" van 23 februari tegen hem uitstond, kwam op 1 mei jl. om het leven in/na de bovenstaande video. Daar heeft marinier Daniel Penny hem in een rear naked choke, nadat Neely zich volgens getuigen "vijandig en onberekenbaar" gedroeg tegenover medereizigers.

Gisteren is hij door een Grand Jury te New York formeel aangeklaagd voor zijn betrokkenheid bij Neely's dood. "The exact charges will not be unsealed until Penny appears in court at a later date. Penny was initially arrested on a second-degree manslaughter charge."

In de onderstaande getuigenis door Daniel Penny horen we zijn kant van het verhaal:

"*(...) A man stumbled on, he appeared to be on drugs. The doors closed, he ripped his jacket off and threw it at the people sitting down to my left. (...) He was yelling. (...) The three main threats that he repeated over and over were: "I'm gonna kill you, I'm prepared to go to jail for life. And I'm willing to die." (...) This was a scary situation. (...) He was threatening. I'm 6"2 and he was taller than me. (...) I was scared for myself, but I looked around and I saw women and children, he was yelling in their faces, saying these threats. I couldn't just sit still. *

*(...) People say I was trying to choke him to death, which is also not true, I was trying to restrain him. You can see in the video there is a clear rise and fall of his chest, indicating that he's breathing. (...) Some people say this is about race, which is absolutely ridiculous. I didn't see a black man threatening passengers, I saw a man threatening passengers, a lot of whom were people of colour. A man who helped restrain mister Neely was a person of colour. *

*(...) We were all scared. Mister Neely was yelling in these passengers faces, and they looked terrified. The reason why there is no video of the start of altercation, these people were too afraid getting away from him. The videos didn't start until they saw the situation was under control. *

(...) I calibrated my grip based on the force that he's exerting. I was trying to keep him on the ground until the police came. I was praying that the police would come and take this situation over."

Een donatiepagina heeft tot nu toe bijna $2,9 miljoen opgehaald voor Daniel Penny's "Legal Defense Fund".