Daniel Penny pleads not guilty in chokehold killing of Jordan Neely on NYC subway as new details emerge about fatal encounter: ‘I had him pretty good’

NEW YORK — Daniel Penny pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges Wednesday for the subway chokehold killing of Jordan Neely, as new details emerged about the fatal encounter aboard an F train last month.

In an interview after police arrived, Penny said Neely “threw shit” and said he was ready to go to prison, court documents released Wednesday show.

“The guy came in, he threw shit, he’s like I’m ready to go to prison for life, I’m ready to die, I’m ready to die, and I was standing behind him. I think I might have just put him in a choke, put him down,” Penny told NYPD officers, according to new court filings.

“We just went to the ground. He was trying to roll up, I had him pretty good, I was in the Marine Corps.”

Prosecutors detailed several accounts from NYPD officers who questioned Penny after the May 1 incident in documents filed after his Manhattan Supreme Court arraignment. Police initially released Penny before he was later charged.

Another quoted Penny as saying people were afraid based on Neely’s behavior.

“He was pacing back and forth on the car. I came from behind and put him in a chokehold. People in the subway were afraid for their safety.”

The former Marine from Long Island appeared Wednesday alongside his lawyers for a brief court appearance two weeks after a grand jury indicted him on second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges.

“Not guilty,” Penny told the court when asked how he wished to plead.

Penny’s attorneys said they planned to argue that he employed his “right and duty” to protect others from “grave harm.”