> If he were on a plane and started yelling about how he didn’t care if he died and threatening people, how would that go for him? <
The same question could be asked if the homeless guy were on a bus, and lunged at the driver. But neither scenario applies here. The prosecutor will tell the jury that any response must be proportional to the threat. And the Marine’s response was over the top.
I’m no lawyer. And I don’t play one on TV. But I suppose the Marine’s best hope is that some witness actually heard the homeless guy make overt threats.
Actually that scenario does apply here because his fellow passengers were locked in a compartment with him and he was threatening them. Were they supposed to wait until he made good on his threats? You do know there were four men restraining him, not just the marine?
Apparently the guy (Neely) was screaming at the other passengers, saying he didn’t have anything to eat or drink, wanted to go to jail and wasn’t afraid to die. Then started throwing trash at passengers.
Obviously the man didn’t deserve to die for this but given the amount of crime committed on the subway every day by homeless people, and the fact the he stopped the chokehold once Neely stopped struggling, I could see a reasonable jury acquitting the Marine. This will be an interesting case.