Bombshell testimony in chokehold subway trial as key witness admits ‘lying’ to Daniel Penny and the cops

A key witness admitted lying to police after Daniel Penny put a homeless man in a chokehold on the subway.

Penny, a Marine veteran, faces 15 years in prison for the suffocation death of troubled former Michael Jackson impersonator Jordan Neely, 30, on an F train in Manhattan in May 2023.

On Tuesday, Eric Gonzalez, 39, who helped Penny restrain Neely that day, admitted he didn’t tell the truth when he was first interviewed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office after the man’s death.

During his testimony, Gonzalez, who was on his way to a construction job at the time, told the court that he falsely claimed he arrived on the scene earlier than he actually did, and that the former Marine decided to take action after Neely told him beaten.

In reality, Gonzalez said Penny already had a chokehold on Neely when he boarded the train.

The Bronx man said he lied about what happened that day because he feared he would be “incarcerated” for the murder and wanted to “justify my actions.”

Now the key witness has retracted what he originally told the police and entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the Public Prosecution Service.

Gonzalez told the court he falsely claimed he arrived at the scene earlier than he actually did, and that the former Marine decided to take action after Neely punched him.

Early Tuesday, Gonzalez said it appeared Neely was trying to “escape” from Penny’s grasp.

“Everyone was panicking, saying, ‘Call the police! Call the police!’… I thought one was trying to restrain the other until the police came,” Gonzalez said, referring to Penny and Neely.

“I jumped in to try to help,” he said, adding that he told Penny, “I’m going to grab his hands so you can let him go.”

“There was another time I said, ‘You can let go, I’ll hold him,'” he told the jury.

The 39-year-old said Neely tapped a nearby person because “he wanted to be released.”

After the fatal incident, Gonzalez said he lived in fear not only for himself, but also for his family.

“There are all these protests going on. I’m scared for myself and for my family,” he said, adding that he was “scared” when he found out he was a suspect in Neely’s death.

On Tuesday, another witness, Derrick Clay, of Queens, said he called 911 after watching the veteran hold Neely by the neck for about five to six minutes.

Daniel Penny, a Navy veteran, faces 15 years in prison for the suffocation death of troubled former Michael Jackson impersonator, Jordan Neely, 30, on an F train in Manhattan in May 2023

Neely was a Michael Jackson impersonator whose mental health has deteriorated in recent years, according to his family

Clay recalled that Neely looked “like he was sleeping,” adding that he thought so “because he wasn’t moving.”

Penny, then 24, is accused of killing Neely by placing him in a fatal chokehold.

Other passengers said earlier in the trial that they were terrified of Neely before Penny intervened when he told people he was ready to “go back to Rikers” and “someone is going to die today.”

A 19-year-old high school student, Ivette Rosario, revealed that she buried her head in her friend’s chest and “prayed” for the doors to open when Neely started ranting on the train.

When the train finally reached Broadway Lafayette, she was one of the few passengers to call 911.

Audio of the call was played for the jury. The young girl, who was on her way home from school at the time, told the operator that “there was a man who said he was going to hurt people on the train.”

Speaking of Penny, she said, “This guy stepped in and is holding him down.”

As the audio played, she described Penny’s actions in court as “going the extra mile” for those around him.

In the 911 call, she described the perpetrator’s appearance as “black.”

“The one causing the damage is black,” she said. “They’re holding him.”

Rosario told the court that Neely’s outburst on the train made her so nervous that she thought she was “going to pass out.”

Defense attorney Thomas Kenniff noted that her head was buried for most of the altercation, meaning she may have missed important physical moments.

A second witness who was on the train, 59-year-old Mexican journalist Juan Vasquez, told the court that Neely began fighting back after initially stopping moving.

“For almost a moment they didn’t move much, and then the battle started,” he said through a Spanish interpreter.

‘Neely tried very hard to break free, desperately moving his legs in an attempt to break free.’

Penny’s defense said he never intended to kill the man and it is not definitive that he is responsible for his death.

Neely was still alive on the train when police arrived, but was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The incident caused an uproar in America, with Black Lives Matter describing it as “the racist murder of a mentally ill black man by an overzealous white military believer.”

Others say Penny is a hero, a modern-day Batman who intervened when Neely made aggressive threats on the subway, including against a toddler boy whose mother protected him with a stroller.

NYPD officers arrived at Fulton Station by train at 2:33 p.m.

Two police officers confirmed that Neely still had a pulse when they arrived.

“I have a heartbeat,” someone said. A second police officer confirmed that he also felt a heartbeat.

While on the stand, Gonzalez said Neely (pictured) tagged a nearby person during the incident because “he wanted to be released.”

The incident caused an uproar in America, with Black Lives Matter describing it as ‘the racist murder of a mentally ill black man by an overzealous white military believer’

Neely was unconscious and lying on the floor of the subway.

When asked how Neely got there, Penny replied, “I kicked him out.”

Despite initially detecting a heartbeat, they gave Narcan – the drug used to reverse opioid overdoses – to Neely – and began CPR at 2:38 p.m.

Northwell Health paramedics arrived on the train at 2:48 p.m., 15 minutes after police.

At 3:13 p.m. — nearly 45 minutes after police first arrived — Neely was still on the train, then surrounded by paramedics.

From the time police received the call, it took seven minutes for first responders to arrive.

It then took another 10 minutes before emergency services arrived with a defibrillator and more aids.

Penny’s lawyer said his client was a student and was on his way to the gym that afternoon, and that he was “desperately waiting for the police to show up and help him like he had helped other passengers on this train” that fateful day. (Pictured: Penny escorted in handcuffs on May 12, 2023)

He was not pronounced dead until he arrived at Lenox Health Hospital in Greenwich Village later that afternoon.

Kenniff said his client was a student and was on his way to the gym that afternoon.

‘This battle lasted five to six minutes. But Danny didn’t squeeze his neck, and couldn’t. We know that because if that were the case, Neely would have passed out in the first minute,” Kenniff said.

“Danny waited desperately for the police to show up and help him like he had helped other passengers on this train.”

The trial, which began on November 1, is expected to last six weeks and will call on medical experts, first responders and other passengers who were on the train that day.