Subway chokehold trial: ME testifies pressure from ex-LI Marine Daniel Penny's chokehold caused man to suffocate

A New York City medical examiner testified on Friday that the pressure from Daniel Penny’s chokehold caused Jordan Neely’s tongue and other soft tissue in his neck to move up and toward the back of his throat, blocking off his windpipe and causing him to suffocate.

Dr. Cynthia Harris took the witness stand for the second day in a row in the second-degree manslaughter and reckless endangerment case against Penny, a Long Island native, for killing Neely, a homeless man and subway performer.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, where Harris works, ruled that Neely’s death was a homicide caused by asphyxia.

"If Mr. Neely’s neck had not been compressed, he would not have died," Harris said.

Prosecutors charge that Penny, a Marine Corps veteran formerly of Long Island trained in nonlethal restraints, seized Neely from behind, at first to keep him from harming other passengers on the train, but, they said, he held on too long — more than five minutes — which he knew from the military could injure or kill the man.

The doctor gave a frame-by-frame analysis of a cellphone video of Neely and Penny struggling on the F train floor, shot by a bystander in the Broadway-Lafayette subway station on May 1, 2023, on the uptown platform.

Harris indicated at one point that Neely appeared to be speaking to another man, asking to be let up. The doctor said that Neely would have been able to breathe if he could speak, though it is possible that his trachea was partially blocked.

Using a pointer, Harris indicated to the jury where the "accessory muscles" in Neely’s torso constricted as he struggled to get oxygen.

She said that Neely suffered from "air hunger" — the inability to take in or expel oxygen.

"This is a still taken from the video where you can see the veins in Mr. Neely’s face are distended," the doctor said, pointing at the bulging lines on his face. "I believe that he appears purple. His face is much darker and more purple than his arms are."

The medical examiner said this indicated that blood flow was being obstructed to the brain.

Autopsy photos show red splotches in Neely’s eyes, throat and other parts of his body indicating ruptured blood vessels, the doctor said, caused by the built-up pressure from a chokehold.

Harris said that Neely appears to lose strength over the course of the video, struggling less toward the end.

Harris pointed to Neely’s feet and legs in the video which appear to curl up toward his body at the same time. His back begins to arch in the video.

"That’s not breathing, that’s not voluntary, that’s the sign of a brain dying," she said. "This is an asphyxial death ... the brain dies first, the brain is the most sensitive organ in the body to oxygen."

Neely’s heart continued to beat involuntarily, which is why bystanders and police were able to find a pulse initially, she said.

The autopsy on Neely showed synthetic marijuana in his system and a "sickle crisis" in his spleen, but Harris said that neither of these conditions resulted in his death.

Neely had sickle cell trait, a benign condition that causes some red blood cells to have a crescent or sickle-like appearance. These cells do not transport oxygen to the body with the same efficiency as a normal cell, Harris said.

The doctor said that during a time when the body struggled for air, the sickling effect would be exacerbated.

"The sickling is explained by the low oxygen state of the chokehold," the doctor said.

Harris also said that she ruled out the effect of the synthetic marijuana on Neely as a cause of death because the drug acts as a stimulant.

If Neely died from the drug in his system, Harris said, he would have gone into cardiac arrest, which means his heart would have stopped first.

"His heart was functioning and functioning for a couple of minutes, inconsistent with a cardiac arrest, but consistent with an asphyxial death," the doctor said.

Defense lawyer Steven Raiser pointed out that Harris arrived at her conclusion regarding the cause and manner of Neely’s death before the toxicology report came back from the lab.

Harris said that she relied on the video of the chokehold and the autopsy to determine how Neely died.

"At the end, I had no further question as to why he was dead," she said. "I didn’t wait for the toxicology because no toxicological report would have changed my opinion."

The cross-examination is expected to continue on Monday.