NEW YORK (AP) — A man who kept a chokehold around the neck of an agitated fellow passenger on a New York City subway, leading to the other rider’s death, turned himself in to authorities Friday on a manslaughter charge that could send him to prison for 15 years.

Manhattan prosecutors announced Thursday they would bring the criminal charge against Daniel Penny, 24, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, in the May 1 death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely.

Penny turned himself in at a Manhattan police station Friday morning. At a brief arraignment, he gave no plea, surrendered his passport, and waived extradition.

A judge authorized Penny’s release on bond, the Associated Press reported.

Penny, who is white, was questioned by police in the immediate aftermath of the chokehold, but was initially released without charges.

Neely’s death, captured on video by a freelance journalist, has raised an uproar over many issues, including how those with mental illness are treated by the transit system and the city, as well as crime and vigilantism.

Penny’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment after the prosecutors made their announcement Thursday. They have previously said Penny acted in self-defense.

According to an onlooker, Neely, who is Black, had been screaming and begging for money aboard the train, but had not gotten physical with anyone.

Lawyers for Neely’s family said at a Friday news conference that justice to them looks like a conviction for murder.

Being a decorated Marine, attorney Lennon Edwards said, Penny likely went through more training and situations than someone newer to the military. 

“When you’re trained in combat, that gives you something that the average person does not have. It gives you options,” Edwards said. “But Daniel Penny chose, intentionally chose, a technique to use that is designed to cut off air. We believe that the conviction should be for murder, because that’s intentional.”

Added attorney Donte Mills: “What did (Penny) think would happen when he choked him and held on for almost 15 minutes?”

Friends of Neely said the former subway performer had been dealing with homelessness and mental illness in recent years. He had several arrests to his name, including a 2021 assault of a 67-year-old woman leaving a subway station.

Neely’s family’s lawyers stressed that more mental health services are needed in the city. 

But also, Mills said, “We have to care about people.”

“We need each other,” he said. “No one on that train asked Jordan what was wrong, ‘How can I help you?’ He was choked to death instead.”

Mills acknowledged that there are people saying they have taken public transportation, and been afraid in situations where people behaved similarly to Neely. 

He implored them, though: “Don’t take someone’s life. Don’t take someone’s loved one from them. Because they’re in a bad place.”

Neely, Mills said, had family who supported him, but his mental illness, and a tragedy that happened to him at a very young age, made it hard for him to accept that help.

USA Today reported that Neely began experiencing mental health issues at 14, when his mother was strangled by her boyfriend in her apartment.

Edwards told USA Today that when Neely tried to say goodbye to his mother before leaving for school, he didn’t know she had died. All he knew, Edwards said, was that her boyfriend had told him he couldn’t enter the bedroom where his mom’s body was. 

As an adult, Neely had days when he did better with his mental health, and times when he struggled.

On good days, Mills said, Neely would visit his aunt’s house, take a shower, and get food. But on bad days, he isolated himself.

“(Neely) didn’t want to be around people that he know loved them because he didn’t want to disappoint them because he was at a low point,” Mills said. “He didn’t want to be judged and lose the love that he had — even though they would have never lost that love.”

A second-degree manslaughter charge in New York for Penny will require the jury to find that a person has engaged in reckless conduct that creates an unjustifiable risk of death, and then consciously disregards that risk.

The law also requires that conduct to be a gross deviation from how a reasonable person would act in a similar situation.

“I appreciate (Manhattan District Attorney Alvin) Bragg conducting a thorough investigation into the death of Jordan Neely,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said. “I have the utmost faith in the judicial process, and now justice can move forward against Daniel Penny.”

Penny’s next court appearance is set for July 17.

NewsNation digital producer Cassie Buchman and Mahvish Khan contributed to this article.