Extra: At Daniel Penny Suppression Hearing NYPD Officer Says Neely Had a Pulse and a Muffin
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by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
NYS COURTHOUSE, Oct 3 – In the run up to the trial of Daniel Penny for the death of Jordan Neely on an uptown F train in NYC on May 1, 2023, there was a suppression hearing on October 3, 2024 complete with body cam video and post-arrest statement. Inner City Press was in the courtroom and live tweeted, some of thread here, extra / analysis on X for Subscribers here and below the paywall / subscribe (support) line here
[Penny is sitting at defense table, his video interview is being played. So these interchanges are from the interview]
Police: The doors close and he's still yelling - when does he throw the jacket? Penny: He said, I'll kill you, this and that.
Penny: Afterward, the cop came. I asked the people on the train to stick around, the cops are going to come. I'm not out here trying to attack. That's not me, that's not how I was trained. This guy was saying he's going to kill people, he's prepared to go to jail
Police: Did he go up to particular people? Penny: He's saying, I'm going to kill you. Detective Medina: The DA's Office said they wanted to get involved and attend Penny's lawyer: Do you know if Mr. Penny was informed of Mr. Neely's death while he was at the precinct?
Det Medina: No sir. Penny's lawyer: Was he informed during the interview? A: No.... Judge: Wait, our TV screen shorted out, there's some smoke
Judge: There's going to be an acrid smell but we have the air conditioning on, let's keep going. Penny's 2d lawyer: Mr. Penny said he didn't know of Mr. Neely had a weapon? Officer Tejada: Yes
Penny's 2d lawyer: What did you find in Mr. Neely's jacket pocket? Officer Tejada: A muffin. A full muffin. Penny's 2d lawyer: You saw the muffin top... Was Mr. Neely still breathing? Officer Tejada: Seemed like it. He had a pulse too.
Penny's 2d lawyer: You didn't do CPR for several minutes, right? Officer Tejada: We didn't. Penny's 2d lawyer: But you did use NARCAN, right?
ADA: Objection! Relevance! Judge: I'll allow it for now.
Officer Tejada: Yes...Penny's 2d lawyer: Two witnesses were taken to the precinct, right? A white woman and an African American woman? Officer Kang: Yes. Penny's 2d lawyer: Let me show you the video [Two women shown. One says, He was saying, Kill.. and It wasn't a choke hold
Penny's 2d lawyer: It sounded to you like the witnesses were taking the side of Mr. Penny, talking about how threatening Mr. Neely had been? Officer Kang: Yes.
Judge: We'll break here.
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