A city straphanger who jumped in to try to help Daniel Penny restrain Jordan Neely told jurors Tuesday that the troubled homeless man looked like he was trying to “escape” the Marine veteran’s chokehold.

The man seen on video helping Daniel Penny restrain Jordan Neely on board the subway last year took the stand Tuesday on day five of witness testimony in Penny's trial.Penny has pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in Neely's chokehold death.

A subway commuter who helped an ex-Marine restrain an agitated man aboard a Manhattan subway last year testified that he tried to convince the veteran to loosen his grip around the man’s neck.

Eric Gonzalez, who helped Daniel Penny pin Mr. Neely to the floor of a subway car, also said he had lied when he told investigators Mr. Neely had hit him.

The witness said that he looked up from his phone and saw Daniel Penny struggling with Jorden Neely on the floor of the train and heard other bystanders ask those around them to call the police.

Prosecutors have called more than a dozen witnesses so far in the trial of Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran charged in the chokehold death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely on board the subway last year.

Subway straphangers who witnessed the May 2023 chokehold incident that ended in Jordan Neely’s death shed light on the circumstances preceding the chaotic clash as Daniel Penny’s manslaughter trial wrapped up its first week of testimony on Friday.