Terrified subway passengers who were on a New York City train with Navy veteran Daniel Penny when he strangled a homeless man told his murder trial today how scared they were before he intervened.

Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Michael Jackson impersonator with mental health issues, was telling passengers that he was ready to “go back to Rikers” and that “someone is going to die today” when Daniel Penny, 24, dragged him to the ground. . and strangled him for six minutes.

Penny’s defense says that he never intended to kill the man and that it is not definitive that he is to blame for his death. Neely was still alive on the train when police arrived, but was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

On Monday, two witnesses took the stand Monday morning in Manhattan Supreme Court to testify about what they saw before Neely’s death on May 1, 2023.

High school student Ivette Rosario called 911 and told the operator she was “terrified” of the “angry” Neely. He said Daniel Penny ‘intervened’ to protect other passengers.

Navy veteran Daniel Penny is on trial for involuntary manslaughter in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Ivette Rosario, a 19-year-old high school senior, revealed that she buried her head in her friend’s chest and “prayed” for the doors to open when Neely began ranting on the train.

When the train finally arrived at Broadway Lafayette, she was one of the few passengers to call 911.

The audio of the call was played for the jury. The young woman, who was returning home from school at the time, told the operator that “there was a guy who said he was going to hurt people on the train.”

Speaking about Penny, he said: “This guy stepped in and is holding him down.”

In court, as that audio played, she described Penny’s actions as “a step forward” for those around him.

The May 2023 incident caused an uproar in the United States: BLM says it was the racist murder of a mentally ill black man by an overzealous white military loyalist.

In the 911 call, he described the offender’s appearance as “black.”

“The one who does the damage is the black man,” he said. “They are immobilizing him.”

Rosario told the court that Neely’s outburst on the train made her so nervous that she thought she would “pass out.”

Instead, she buried her head in her friend’s chest and tried to stay calm until they reached the next stop.

During this time, Rosario said he never saw Neely directly approach any passenger on the train, and understood that he was not directing his frustration at any particular passenger.

Defense attorney Thomas Kenniff noted that his head was buried during most of the altercation, meaning he may have missed key physical moments.

But he did remember hearing the threats and comments Neely made.

“It was the tone,” he said.

Penny, on the left, waited for the police to arrive. He told them: ‘I took it out,’ when asked how Neely ended up unconscious.

New body camera shows two police officers checking Neely’s pulse and finding one

‘It was terrifying. “I was angry… I was very shaky.”

Rosario recalled that Neely told passengers that he was homeless and thirsty. He then began telling people that he was willing to “go back to jail.”

She also heard him say that someone “was going to die today.”

Rosario said she rides the subway between her home in the Bronx and high school every day, and is no stranger to witnessing outbursts on public transportation.

“I’ve been on the train before and heard things,” he said. “But never anything like this.”

Rosario also filmed a short clip as he got off the train at Broadway Lafayette, moments before calling authorities.

In the clip, which was played in court for the jury, Neely appeared to no longer move as Penny kept her arm firmly around his throat.

Prosecutors say a bystander shouted ‘he’s dying, we have to let him go,’ but Rosario said he didn’t hear that warning.

A second witness who was traveling on the train, Mexican journalist Juan Vásquez, 59, told the court that Neely began to defend himself after he initially stopped moving.

“Almost for a moment, they didn’t move much and then the fighting started,” he said through a Spanish interpreter.

“Neely tried with all his might to free himself, desperately moving his legs to try to get free.”

Black Lives Matter protesters outside the Manhattan courthouse on Friday

Vasquez provided authorities with nearly six-minute footage showing this struggle and revealed on the stand Monday that he is seeking a U visa for his cooperation.

The U visa allows non-Americans to remain in the country if they are victims of a serious crime or help solve a case.

He said he learned about the visa in “April or May of this year and contacted an immigration attorney about what he had seen.”

That immigration attorney is now working to help Vásquez obtain the visa. He said the District Attorney’s office must “certify” his help, but said he has not received any promises that he will be allowed to live in the United States long-term in exchange for his cooperation.

Vásquez has been in the United States for seven years and has worked as a Spanish-language freelance journalist. He said he sold his footage once after filming the altercation and was made two other offers, but “couldn’t come to terms” with potential buyers.

Prosecutors on Friday described his video as the “most critical evidence” jurors will see.

Despite being a little further away from the fray on the train and not speaking much English, Vasquez said he immediately “got on alert” when he noticed Neely’s tone on the train.

He caught certain phrases: that Neely was hungry, thirsty and something else I understood was that he didn’t care if they would put him back in jail.’

“He seemed violent and desperate. The tone of his voice was strong,” Vasquez told the jury.

‘I was a little nervous and went into alert mode… a state of alert.’

He said that after it became apparent that Neely was no longer moving or defending himself, six minutes after the altercation began, Penny stood up, picked up her cap and attempted to move one of Neely’s arms to “position it like a pillow” underneath. him.

Like Rosario, Vásquez did not have a clear view of the altercation. He heard bodies fall to the ground and the sound of a struggle. But he did not see Penny approach Neely, nor did he see Neely threatening specific passengers.

Last week, during opening statements, Penny’s attorney said the Navy veteran, then 24, only intervened when Neely approached a woman who was shielding her child with her stroller, threatening her with ” die”.

Penny is charged with involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide.

But on the opening day of the trial, body footage of the police officers who first responded to the scene was played and revealed that Neely had a pulse when they arrived.

NYPD officers arrived by train at the Fulton station at 2:33 p.m.

Two police officers confirmed that Neely still had a pulse when they arrived.

“I have a pulse,” one said. A second police officer confirmed that he also felt a pulse.

Neely was unconscious, lying on the floor of the subway car.

When asked how Neely ended up there, Penny responded, “I kicked him out.”

Although they initially detected a pulse, they administered Narcan, the medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, to Neely, and began CPR at 2:38 p.m.

Police did not attempt mouth-to-mouth resuscitation because Neely was “an apparent drug user … very dirty” and could have vomited on officers if he had woken up, NYPD Sergeant Carl Johnson said. when he was called to the witness stand.