As Jordan Neely lay on the subway with a stranger’s arm around his neck, a bystander touched his leg, and video of the manslaughter trial in Neely’s death was shown Monday.

The audience leaned toward Neely, who urgently gestured with his right hand for about 15 seconds. A third person, who was holding Neely’s left arm, then grabbed his right arm and folded it over his chest.

By the way, Marine veteran daniel penny He continued to hold Neely by the neck for more than three minutes as Neely tried to break free, briefly loosening his left arm and swinging his leg until his movement slowed and then stopped.

As the video played on the courtroom’s large screens, Neely’s father put his head in his hands and quietly walked out of the room.

The video, a longer version of a clip widely seen on social media, and footage from another viewer gave the anonymous jury the first direct view of the strangulation at the heart of Penny’s manslaughter trial. A third witness told jurors Monday that Penny appeared to be in a “trance” as she restrained Neely that day in 2023.

The videos also gave the public a greater window into an encounter that sparked protests and political debate about the line between self-defense and vigilance and how race, homelessness, mental illness and drug use factor into the situation. Neely was Black; Penny is white.

Prosecutors say Penny, 25, recklessly killed Neely, who frightened passengers on the train with angry expressions that some drivers found threatening.

Penny pleaded not guilty. His lawyers say he was defending himself and his fellow passengers, acting in one of those volatile moments when New York’s perverts fear but are reluctant to confront.

Neely, 30, who was known to do Michael Jackson impersonations to some subway riders, had mental health and drug problems. Her family said her life was devastated after her mother was killed when she was a teenager, and she testified at the trial that led to her boyfriend’s conviction.

The trial of Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran accused in the subway drowning death of Jordan Neely, began Friday with jurors watching police body camera video of the moments officers arrived at the scene. NBC New York’s Erica Byfield reports.

He crossed paths with Penny, an architecture student who served four years in the Marine Corps, on a subway train on May 1, 2023.

Neely was homeless, broke, hungry, thirsty and so desperate that he risked going to jail, yelling at passengers who later reminded him of his statement to the police.

It made high school student Ivette Rosario so nervous, she thought she would faint, she testified Monday. He had seen explosions in subways before, “but not like that,” he said.

“I was pretty scared because of the tone of voice and I was afraid of what was being said,” Rosario said. He told jurors that Neely shouted “in an angry tone, just like when you’re fed up.”

He said he looked down, hoping the train would arrive at the station before anything else happened.

Then he heard the sound of someone falling, looked up and saw Neely lying on the ground with Penny’s arm around her neck.

The train soon stopped and he got off, but continued watching from the platform. He would soon make one of the first 911 calls about what was happening. But first, his shaking hand pressed the record button on his phone.

He shot video of Penny lying on the floor, holding Neely’s head in the crook of her left arm and holding her right hand over Neely’s head – seen publicly for the first time on Monday. In the clip, an unseen person is worried that Neely is dying and yells, “Let her go!” he shouts.

Jury selection was underway Monday in the trial of Daniel Penny, the former sailor accused of subjecting Jordan Neely to a fatal drowning on a subway train last year. NBC New York’s Rana Novini reports.

The other video jurors watched Monday was made by Mexican freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vázquez. That recording recorded another person off-camera named Larry Goodson expressing concern for Neely’s life and saying he should be released if he showed certain physical reactions.

Penny did not respond when Goodson testified on Monday: “He was in a whole other trance.”

Vázquez posted part of the video on social media last year, but during his testimony Monday he cut out about a minute when there wasn’t much action to begin with. The full version, which included Neely’s touching and hand gestures, was shown in court.

Goodson, Rosario and Vázquez said they did not see Neely approach anyone.

According to the defense, Neely lurched toward a woman with a baby stroller and said she was going to “kill it,” and Penny felt she had to take action.

Prosecutors do not allege Penny intended to kill or charge her with initially deciding to stop Neely’s threatening behavior. But they say Penny went overboard, strangling the man for nearly six minutes, even after passengers got off the train, others helped hold Neely down and he stopped moving for almost a minute.

Neely family attorney Donte Mills argues that no matter what he says, it doesn’t justify what Penny did. Mills declined to comment after Monday’s court hearing.

Defense attorneys say Penny continued to hold Neely because he tried to break free at times. Prosecutors said Neely was fighting to survive.

The defense also disputes the medical examiner’s finding that asphyxiation killed Neely.