On Friday, a mother in Manhattan told the jury that she was so scared of Jordan Neely because he was “belligerent and unhinged” that she hid her 5-year-old son behind his stroller. Another subway rider said the homeless man’s rantings scared her “shitless.”
Lori Sitro, a research director and mother of two, was taking her young son to therapy on the uptown F train when she heard Neely shouting and saw a “commotion.” She said this at the manslaughter trial of Marine veteran Daniel Penny.
Neely yelled, “I do not have water!'” in Sitro’s words, “he was shouting in people’s faces.” I do not have any food! I do not have a place to live! … “I want to go to Rikers Island, I want to go to jail!”
Sitro said that Neely began “lunging” in different people’s directions and later showed the jurors how to do it.
It was hard to tell what he would do next, she said.
The mother said, “It felt very scary.” They said, “It was getting louder and felt more dangerous.” It sounds angry and out of control to me. I put my stroller in front of my son to make a sort of barrier.
Sitro told the judge that she had lived in New York City for thirty years and “seen a lot” while riding the subway.
“I have seen people who were not stable.” “It felt different to me,” the mom said.
Penny’s lawyer said Neely lunged at her and threatened to kill her, but Sitro said Neely did not do either.
It was still a relief for Sitro when Penny stepped in to stop Neely. “I was scared for my son,” he said.
Sitro told the jury that Neely did not seem to be fighting Penny very hard, who had put the upset man in a chokehold, and Neely’s breathing did not seem to be in any danger.
Sitro said she did not think Penny was trying to choke Neely and was “shocked” to learn that he died after being taken down on May 1, 2023.
On the uptown F train, Alethea Gittings said she was “scared s—tless” when she heard Neely yelling and screaming from further down the car.
Gittings has lived in New York City all her adult life and takes the subway every day. She said she heard Neely say, “I do not give a damn.” I am going to kill a jerk. “I am all set to go.”
While Gittings was not able to see the whole fight between Neely and Penny, she did say that she thanked the Marine for stepping in afterward.
After that, Penny asked her if she would talk to the police.
It was her answer to Penny, “Of course I will.”
During cross-examination, Penny’s lawyer asked Gittings if his client had ever told her what to say to the police. Gittings replied, “Never.”
Dan Couvreur, 29, a third straphanger, said that Neely “terrified” him that day and that he knew things were “going to be bad” as soon as Neely started his scary show by throwing his jacket on the floor.
The tech company founder Couvreur from Brooklyn said, “I wanted to be as far away as possible.”
“I took the subway to and from work.” “This was another level of how desperate, angry, and hostile he sounded,” Couvreur said of Neely.
“I was pretty scared.”
According to Couvreur, he saw Penny put Neely on the floor and then ran off the train as fast as he could to call the police.
In the evening that same day, he read about Neely’s death in an online Post article.
“I was shocked,” Couvreur said of the news.
Penny’s lawyers say he should not be charged with murder for Neely’s death because all he did was protect other riders.
Prosecutors say Penny did what he knew could kill people and still did it.
During the first four days of the trial, many witnesses for the prosecution said they were scared and panicked because of Neely’s unpredictable behavior.