According to the Daily Mail, some stunning new video footage emerged during the first days of Daniel Penny’s trial for Jordan Neely’s death on a New York City subway car. This video shows more clearly what happened and, in my opinion, still exonerates Penny.

It is apparent that, initially, Penny did use a chokehold on the agitated and violent Jordan Neely to subdue him. However, the moment Neely stopped fighting, Penny let up on the choke hold. A still photo from the scene confirms that Penny was holding Neely in a headlock, with no construction pressure on Neely’s neck. In other words, it the hold would not have stopped Neely’s blood flow or ability to breathe.

When the police arrived, they put Neely in the recovery position—lying down and on his side—and determined that he was breathing and had a pulse, although he was unconscious. They also administered Narcan (the antidote to heroin or fentanyl), for they assumed that his being unconscious was due to opiates. The police refused to perform CPR Neely, fearing from his dirty appearance and other signs that he was a drug user and that he could infect them with hepatitis.

As with George Floyd’s death, the media are completely wrong about what happens when people are properly subdued. In this case, the term “chokehold,” which the media and prosecution throw around with impunity, implies that Penny strangled Neely to death. That’s just wrong.

What’s correct is that a chokehold reduces blood circulation and oxygen to the brain, just like a fainting episode causes a person to “fall out.” However, it does not affect the heart. If Penny had failed to release the hold, it could have caused a serious brain injury, but there would not have been cardiac arrest causing death.

The reason a continuous chokehold could cause death is because a prolonged chokehold, by starving the brain of oxygen, kills the part of the brain with the reflex to breathe. It takes about a minute for a person to become unconscious from a chokehold (just like fainting), but it takes a prolonged chokehold (10 minutes or more) to kill that area of the brain. (Think of drowning victims who can be revived before 10 or 15 minutes have passed, but after that time, they die.)

The new footage reaffirms my original opinion, based on my 50 years as an emergency room physician, that Daniel Penny did not murder Jordan Neely. Instead, Neely had a cardiac arrest because he struggled with Penny, causing cardiac stimulation and irritation. Penny’s chokehold subdued but did not kill Jordan Neely. Instead, Neely’s heart developed a fatal arrhythmia, which caused his death.

John Dale Dunn is a 50-year emergency physician and 40-year attorney.

Image: YouTube screen grab.