Jordan Neely's Killer Would Have Known Chokehold Was Deadly
Eric breaks down how claims that Daniel Penny, the man who killed Jordan Neely, didn't know how dangerous an RNC could be is an incredibly flimsy excuse.
On May 1st of 2023, passengers on the F Train in New York City witnessed, what is and will irrefutably be, a blatant killing of a human being.
You have very likely already read or heard about this incident. If not the summary is this: A 30 year-old houseless man by the name of Jordan Neely was choked to death by Daniel Penny, a 24 year-old former USMC sergeant, using a rear naked choke that was applied to Neely for fifteen, yes fifteen, minutes.
According to freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vázquez, Neely was acting erratic and giving a speech to the passengers on the train about the lack of food and housing, and how they were fed up. Neely, who in addition to being without a home also suffered from mental health issues stemming from the murder of his mother as a fourteen year-old, was described to just be ranting and posing no threat to those on the train.
Vázquez claims that after throwing some items of trash at others, and then throwing his own jacket onto the ground Neely was approached from behind by former USMC sergeant Daniel Penny and put into a rear naked choke (aka RNC). Penny held the choke for fifteen, yes fifteen, minutes, killing Neely while other passengers either looked. Some even attempted to aid Penny at first before ultimately pleading for him to release the chokehold once Neely lost consciousness.
Much discussion has been had about the incident within the jiu jitsu community specifically as it involves a significant and popular chokehold used in the sport.
One excuse I’ve seen repeated online was that “Penny wasn’t aware of how deadly an RNC could be” and that even though he had some grappling training through the US Marine Corps, and allegedly (though I haven’t been able to find confirmation on this) had “some” jiu jitsu experience he “didn’t really know when to release it.”
That’s all a load of crap, and I’m here to explain to you how just purely through his own experiences doing either jiu jitsu, or even the Marines Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) he easily would have known the dangers of an RNC.
The MCMAP Program Teaches People How To Use It Safely
The MCMAP is a hand-to-hand/close quarters combat system that was implemented into US Marines Corps training in 2001. Since then every US Marine is required to participate in the program for 27.5 hours and attain the rank of Tan Belt in MCMAP (which use their own belt ranking system). Due to the public records of his service history we know that Daniel Penny, Jordan Neely’s killer, was a USMC Sergeant, so it’s evident he was required to undergo MCMAP training to at least attain the rank of Tan Belt.
On page 2-41 (that is Chapter 2, Page 41) of the MCMAP training manual, the rear choke and its variants (all of which would fall under the same description and methodology of a rear naked choke in jiu jitsu contexts) is a required technique a trainee must learn.
Following the USMC’s safety protocols, and the common sense of “you don’t want your trainees accidentally killing each other,” instruction is given for those performing the choke to know to release the hold when their partner either taps (submits) or passes out.
In essence, this is strong evidence that shows Penny was given explicit instruction about how and when a RNC should be used to be effective.
Additionally, the fact that Penny applied the chokehold with the technique he did indicated he knew how to effectively apply it. This shows that he was aware of the intended usage of an RNC which is to apply pressure on the carotid arteries that cut bloodflow to the brain and put the opponent to sleep due to the lack of fresh oxygen the brain requires to stay conscious.
Even If Explicit Instruction Was Lacking, His Experiential Learning Is Still Learning
In my April 2023 edition of the Grapple Hut Huddle I talked about different forms of curriculum in education. These are all known to exist regardless of context of where the learning is happening.
Specifically I’m going to talk about Experienced Curriculum here. This is where in the course of learning something new the student or learner experiences and interacts with the learning in some manner. For jiu jitsu or MCMAP this is basically when you’re practicing the technique and learning how it feels to apply a choke, or have it applied to you.
Since in both MCMAP and jiu jitsu contexts you are often paired with a partner to participate in technique practice it’s incredibly likely that Daniel Penny had his own experiences being choked by an RNC. In short, he went through the experience of having an RNC applied to him and what it feels like. Because experiential learning is vital to most martial arts practices such as MCMAP or jiu jitsu, Penny knows how quickly a rear naked choke can put you to sleep. In fact, there’s evidence that MCMAP trainers demonstrate this at their training courses as seen in the video below:
As can be seen, it’s all done under the supervision of the trainer as well as the trainees peers. Since jiu jitsu and MCMAP training involve a large portion of sparring for the trainee to learn how to effectively use the techniques they are shown, it’s again highly likely that Penny has experienced a situation where they were either applying a RNC or having it applied to them. This in turn provides support for the argument that Penny knows how quickly a RNC can put someone to sleep on top of the explicit instruction given to him detailing why they’re not meant to hold it past a certain period of time (typically about 5-10 seconds depending on how tight it is sunk in) to prevent further injury to their training partner.
Fuck Everything That Daniel Penny Did, And Those Who Defend Him
In the video recording (which I will absolutely not link here because it’s gross and not something anyone should see), Penny is on Neely’s back. From that position, you can feel when your opponent goes limp. It happens in sparring from time to time and you know to let go because you’re trained to do that in MCMAP and jiu jitsu contexts.
You also can hear the other passengers telling Penny that Neely is unconscious and pleading with Penny to let go.
Penny did not.
Penny kept holding on after Neely’s bowels reportedly loosened.
Penny kept holding on for fifteen goddamn horrifying minutes while people begged him to stop.
Penny very likely knew this would kill Neely.
But he didn’t stop.
We know he knows this would kill Neely because it’s all been taught to Penny explicitly and experientially through his MCMAP training.
Even if Penny was a jiu jitsu white belt, like some people claimed and used to handwave away his responsibility in killing another person, that doesn’t matter as he’d still know all of this for the same reasons above. He would still have the experiences of rolling with someone and very easily being caught in a RNC and knowing how to tap.
The RNC is one of the most common chokes in jiu jitsu taught to white belts. I’ve personally seen kids taught the choke. It’s universally understood that “Choking someone’s neck can kill them if you don’t let go.”
Daniel Penny knew exactly what he was doing with that chokehold.
If you, or anyone you know, think it was all an accidental killing on Penny’s part you’ve been duped and tricked into thinking he didn’t know he would kill a person by choking them for fifteen goddamn minutes.
