A U.S. Marine Corps soldier will be arrested and charged Friday with manslaughter by New York authorities, the Manhattan prosecutor's office announced Thursday, for the death by strangulation of a known homeless man, a news item filmed on May 1 in the subway, which shocked.

"We can confirm that Daniel Penny will be arrested and prosecuted for manslaughter," a spokesman for Manhattan prosecutors said in an email, adding that the 24-year-old military officer is expected to "appear tomorrow (Friday) to be charged in Manhattan Criminal Court."

Daniel Penny is suspected of having caused the death by "compression" in the neck of Jordan Neely, 1, on May 30, according to the New York Forensic Pathology.

Neely, a young African-American who lived on the streets of Manhattan, had been known for ten years for his resemblance and performances mimicking those of music and dance legend Michael Jackson (1958-2009). It was a video of the tragedy, broadcast by all the press, which had triggered a strong emotion in New York.

For five minutes, it shows the victim on the ground in a New York subway car, Daniel Penny lying behind to restrain him and squeeze his upper body. Passengers standing above the two men seem taken aback, others vaguely try to block the arms of Jordan Neely who tries to struggle.

Psychiatric disorders

A witness told AFP that the homeless man burst into the car shouting at passengers and demanding food or drink.

The police dispatched to the subway had briefly questioned the suspect of the chokehold and the Manhattan prosecutor's office finally took ten days to prosecute him criminally. Jordan Neely, whose family and relatives have spoken out in the press, is a known homeless man in New York who had been arrested dozens of times including for disturbance on the public road. Like many homeless people, he suffered from psychiatric disorders in a megalopolis of 8.5 million inhabitants with abysmal socio-economic inequalities.

The New York left had risen to the niche on this case, the Democratic congresswoman for New York, in the House of Representatives in Washington, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, having denounced a "murder". Several rallies took place at the end of last week, including one more violent Friday, which resulted in a dozen arrests in the subway.

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