Newly released body-cam footage taken from a cop responding to the scene where a lifeless Jordan Neely lay on a subway car floor shows a witness telling officers the raving homeless man had been “scared the living daylights out of everybody” moments before.
Alethea Gittins — who told jurors earlier Friday she was “scared s–tless” by Neely’s rantings — could be seen on the officer’s body-cam footage giving a statement amid the ensuing mayhem.
“I think this guy was on drugs,” Gittins told cops of Neely. “You know, because when he came in, he was unbelievably off the charts. He scared the living daylights out of everybody.’’
Gittins said Daniel Penny “took [Neely] to the ground and put him in a chokehold. Not a hard chokehold but just enough to secure him.”
Gittins recounted Neely screaming early on the crowded uptown F train, ” ‘I’m willing to die! I’ll do anything! I’m willing to die and go to jail! I don’t care!’ ”
Neely “got belligerent, and [Penny] tackled him down,” Gittins said.
