Marine veteran Daniel Penny was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury of second-degree manslaughter for the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on a subway in May.

Witnesses said that Neely was threatening other passengers when Penny, who is 24 years old, placed him into a chokehold to subdue him. He died later, and Penny has been accused by many on the left of being motivated by racism.

Neely was a homeless man who was suffering from mental illness, according to his family, and had been arrested many times for numerous charges.

Penny has said that he did not intend to hurt Neely when he placed him in a chokehold.

"The three main threats he repeated over and over was 'I'm going to kill you,' 'I'm prepared to go to jail for life,' and 'I'm willing to die,'" Penny said in a video released on Sunday.

“I didn’t see a black man threatening passengers. I saw a man threatening passengers,” he added.

Freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez, who witnessed the incident, corroborated much of what Penny said.

“He said he had no food, he had no drink, that he was tired and doesn’t care if he goes to jail," said Vazquez. "He started screaming all these things, took off his jacket, a black jacket that he had, and threw it on the ground.”

Another witness called Penny a hero and scolded activists and politicians for accusing him of racism.

"He said, ‘I don’t care if I have to kill an F, I will. I’ll go to jail, I’ll take a bullet,’" said the woman, who didn't want her identity published.

"I’m looking at where we are in the tube, in the sardine can, and I’m like, ‘OK, we’re in between stations. There’s nowhere we can go,’" she added. "The people on that train, we were scared. We were scared for our lives."

"Mr. Penny cared for people. That’s what he did. That is his crime," she said, and called him a hero.

If Penny is convicted of second-degree manslaughter, he could serve up to 15 years in prison.

Here's more about the indictment:

Attorney: Daniel Penny indicted in Jordan Neely's chokehold death www.youtube.com

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