Pathologist disputes finding that Marine veteran’s chokehold caused subway rider’s death

[Pelican Press 0]

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Pathologist disputes finding that Marine veteran’s chokehold caused subway rider’s ******

NEW YORK (AP) — For roughly six minutes,

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was pinned to a subway floor in a chokehold that ended with him lying still. But that’s not what ******* him, a forensic pathologist testified Thursday in defense of the military-trained commuter

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.

Dr. Satish Chundru disputed a New York City

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that Daniel Penny’s chokehold ******* Neely, who was behaving erratically on a subway the two men were riding. Penny’s defense says that he acted to protect frightened passengers and was trying only to restrain Neely, not to ***** him.

The white Marine veteran’s reaction to Neely, who was ******, homeless and mentally ill,

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in national divides over race, urban life and the boundary between self-defense and vigilantism.

Penny’s lawyers have argued throughout the trial that his pressure on Neely’s neck wasn’t sufficient and consistent enough to be lethal. The attorneys brought Chundru to the witness stand to shed light on their argument.

He told jurors that Neely’s medical records and bystander video don’t show telltale signs of known types of fatal chokeholds.

Among the discrepancies, he said: the location and extent of bruising on Neely’s neck, and the small amount of petechiae — small red spots caused by subsurface bleeding — on his eyelids.

“In your opinion, did Mr. Penny choke Mr. Neely to ******?” defense lawyer Steven Raiser asked.

“No,” replied Chundru, who has worked as a medical examiner for county governments in Florida and Texas.

He said Neely ***** from “the combined effects” of synthetic **********, schizophrenia, his struggle and restraint, and a blood condition that can lead to fatal complications during exertion.

“The chokehold did not cause ******,” the pathologist said.

Prosecutor Dafna Yoran later sought to show that some aspects of Chundru’s testimony, including about petechiae, departed from some medical literature and even his own opinion in other cases. He responded that the comparisons weren’t comparable.

His testimony starkly contrasted with the findings of Dr. Cynthia Harris, the city medical examiner who performed Neely’s autopsy.

She told jurors earlier in the trial that Neely suffered “an asphyxial ******” as a result of the chokehold. She

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that Neely’s ****** was due to synthetic ********** use and sickle cell condition, which is related but not equivalent to sickle cell ********.

Within the medical examiner’s office, “the consensus was unanimous” that Neely had ***** from the chokehold, Harris said, adding: “There are no alternative reasonable explanations.”

A Marine Corps combat instructor who trained Penny

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that the veteran didn’t use the chokehold properly when he restrained Neely.

Penny, 26, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent *********. His defense says the Marine veteran and architecture student was defending himself and a car full of subway riders.

Neely, 30, sometimes entertained subway riders as a Michael Jackson impersonator. But he also had a history of psychiatric and ***** problems and a ********* record that included assaulting a woman at a subway station.

When they crossed paths in a subway car on May 1, 2023, Neely was begging for money, shouting about being willing to **** or go to jail, and making sudden movements, according to witnesses. Penny’s lawyers have said Neely lurched toward a woman with a small child and said, “I will *****.”

Penny put his arm around Neely’s neck, took him to the floor and held Neely there, with Penny’s legs around him, for close to six minutes, bystander videos show. Neely had stopped moving during roughly the last minute.

Penny’s attorneys have said he continued to hold on, while urging onlookers to call police, because Neely had tried at points to break free.

Prosecutors maintain he applied too much force for too long.

___

Associated Press writer Jake Offenhartz contributed.

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