The Marine who held a homeless man, Jordan Neely, in a chokehold for several minutes on a New York City subway earlier this month — resulting in his death — will be charged with manslaughter on Friday, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. 

In a statement to the New York Times, the office said Daniel Penny will surrender on Friday. “Daniel Penny will be arrested on a charge of manslaughter in the second degree,” the statement said. “We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow.”

The decision to charge the Marine follows an uproar from homeless advocates including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who cried “murder” and demanded Mr. Penny be held accountable. Mr. Penny’s attorney and supporters  say he was trying to keep other subway riders safe after Neely exhibited belligerent behavior, and that he did not intend to cause Neely’s death.

Under New York criminal law, manslaughter in the second degree is defined as recklessly, even if unintentionally, killing another person. A conviction carries a sentence of up to 15 years and substantial fines. 

Mr. Penny — with help from other subway passengers — subdued Neely after feeling threatened by his erratic behavior. They also said Neely threatened physical harm to subway passengers and said he was not afraid to return to prison should he hurt someone. Neely, a well-known Michael Jackson impersonator who was mentally ill, had a long rap sheet, including arrests for drug possession, assault, and other crimes. 

In a letter sent days after Neely’s death, Mr. Penny’s lawyers said that he “never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death.”

Since Neely’s death on May 1, Black Lives Matter activists and politicians have led protests in the street and called for murder charges to be brought against Mr. Penny, a 24-year old college student and honorably discharged U.S. Marine. 

“Jordan Neely was murdered,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter. “But bc Jordan was houseless and crying for food in a time when the city is raising rents and stripping services to militarize itself while many in power demonize the poor, the murderer gets protected w/ passive headlines + no charges. It’s disgusting.”

The image of Mr. Penny, a white man, defending himself on public transit raised the specter of another so-called vigilante from New York City’s history. Bernie Goetz was charged with attempted murder, assault, and other crimes after shooting four Black teenagers on the city subways during the crime wave of the mid-1980s. Goetz became a folk hero to people across the world who felt frustrated with wanton crime in public, and was vilified as a white vigilante who unnecessarily used violence. 

Despite a boost in police presence, crime on the city’s transit system rose by 30 percent in 2022 compared to a year earlier, outpacing a 22 percent citywide surge. The increase is despite ridership levels that are 60 percent below pre-pandemic levels. The city is currently spending an additional $20 million a month on overtime to fund an extra 1,200 cops on the subways on top of the 2,600 already assigned to the system.

New York City has also been trying, with limited success, to remove homeless people from the subway system and force them into shelters.