A subway passenger seen on video helping Marine officer Daniel Penney subdue Jordan Neely after a riot broke out on a Manhattan train, but prosecutors chose to subdue him instead of testifying in Penney's manslaughter trial. He took the witness stand Tuesday after agreeing not to press charges and said he yelled in court. The ex-soldier said he didn't squeeze “hard enough” during the altercation.
He initially gave the detectives a different story, but arrived after Penny had already defeated Neely.
“Everyone was going crazy, saying, 'Call the police, call the police,'” said Eric Gonzalez, a 39-year-old father of two. “I saw those two people on the floor and I thought one was trying to restrain the other until the police arrived.”
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Daniel Penny arrives in court on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, after a break in New York City. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Witnesses said Neely forced his way onto the train, threw his jacket on the floor, raised his fist and began making death threats.
Gonzalez said when he arrived at the scene, he waved his hand in front of Neely's face to let her know he would jump in to help, then grabbed Neely's arm and hugged her.
“I said I would grab his hand and let go to give him another option of holding him until the police arrived,” he testified. “If I held his arm down, he could let go of his neck. I wasn't thinking at the time. I was just giving him an alternative.”
Neely continued to struggle and the two men continued to hold him down as they waited for police. Gonzalez said she urged Penny to loosen her grip, but later told her to hold tighter.
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Screenshot of bystander video showing Jordan Neely falling to the ground after Daniel Penny and Eric Gonzalez run away from him on a New York City subway train. (Luces de Nueva York/Juan Alberto Vazquez, via Storyful)
“Jordan Neely was hitting another person who was kneeling next to Penny's head and saying he wanted him released, he wanted him released,” Gonzalez said. “I told him, 'I'm not going to let you go.'”
Bystander video played in court by prosecutors shows Gonzalez telling Neely, “I'm not going to let you get away until the police arrive.”
As the three men wrestled on the floor, Gonzalez said another rider was providing commentary over a FaceTime call.
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“We were having a hard time at the time. I remember seeing someone FaceTiming with my wife saying something like if she got a poop stain on her, she would die or pass out.” Gonzalez testified.
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Other witnesses had previously testified how Neely “smelled like dirty sweatpants” when he barged onto the train and began making threats. Mr Gonazles acknowledged there was a brown stain on his pants, but said: “It was old.”
“It was a dry stain on his pants,” he said.
He said he's frustrated that FaceTimer doesn't help when he talks.
“I was basically doing everything to shut him up,” he said. “At one point, he was telling Daniel Penny not to hold on too tightly, or saying that he was too clingy. In an attempt to ignore him and shut him up, I told him that Penny didn't hold on tight enough. I said no.”
This image from body camera video provided by the New York City Police Department. Daniel Penny, left, watches on a New York City subway train as police try to resuscitate Jordan Neely on May 5, 2023. (New York City Police Department, Associated Press)
On cross-examination, Gonzalez first told prosecutors that he didn't squeeze Penny tightly enough, saying he could see a gap between his arm and Neely's jaw and that Penny's arm was not around his throat. He stated that it was on his chest.
He said part of the two men's concern when they subdued Mr Neely was that Mr Neely “might fight or flee” before police arrived. He remembers telling detectives that Penny was restraining Neely but not strangling her, but he backtracked on the stand and said he had just “assumed” Neely. He said his arm was only “on his neck.”
At some point, Neely went limp and let go. Gonzalez testified that he let Penny go soon after. He said he checked and found a pulse before leaving.
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This undated photo on Friday, May 12, 2023, provided by Mills & Edwards LLP in New York, shows Jordan Neely with his aunt Carolyn Neely. (Courtesy of Mills & Edwards, LLP, via AP)
He left the company and continued working, but learned of Neely's death in the newspaper the next morning, and a co-worker showed him Neely in a photograph from the crime scene.
“I used all my vacation time. In other words, I was hiding,” Gonzalez said.
Police found him about a week after the incident and later met with an assistant district attorney (ADA). He testified that he remembers being afraid that he would be “arrested for murder.”
He then lied to prosecutors, saying he arrived at the altercation earlier than he actually did and that Neely hit him first.
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Screenshot of bystander video showing Jordan Neely being strangled on the New York City subway. As Neely resisted the headlock, witness Eric Gonzalez moved Neely's hands away. (Luces de Nueva York/Juan Alberto Vazquez, via Storyful)
“I fabricated a story to the ADA and lied to the ADA,” he said. “I told the ADA as things were progressing. [that] I was there when everything went down. I told the ADA that Neely hit me first and then everything was over. ”
But prosecutors already had a photo of Neely at the turnstile when Penny first grabbed him.
“Then I saw a still photo of me just finishing swiping my MetroCard,” he said.
During this interrogation, he told prosecutors that he asked Mr. Neely, “Are you okay after I let you go?” and Mr. Neely replied, “Yes.”
Prosecutors then offered Penny immunity in exchange for testifying against him, he said.
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The defense asked the court about investigators' notes during Gonzalez's interrogation, saying only a few were provided during discovery. Prosecutors argued that he had handed over all of his belongings.
Gonzalez also said that despite prosecutors' offer of immunity, he remains afraid to testify and believes that testifying in Penny's favor could cause harm to him or his family. He said that
Penny could face up to 19 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
