Looking down at one man holding another in a chokehold on the floor of a New York subway train, Larry Goodson offered a warning.
"You're gonna kill him now," he said.
The man on the floor was Jordan Neely, 30, a homeless subway performer.
The man holding him was Daniel Penny, 24, a former marine.
Both men had boarded New York's northbound F train on the afternoon of May 1, 2023.
Mr Neely had been "acting erratically", according to witnesses. He shouted that he was hungry and thirsty, that he was "fed up".
He said he didn't care if he died or went to jail.
As other passengers moved to another part of the train, Mr Penny approached from behind — and put Mr Neely in a chokehold.
Witnesses described Mr Neely's attempts to break free. Video showed him tapping his hand against another man's knee, gesturing.
Mr Penny did not respond to Mr Goodson's warning, or to being urged to let go.
Mr Goodson said he believed Mr Neely might have defecated on himself, a red flag he recognised from his partner's description of chokeholds during her time in the military.
"You don't want to catch a murder charge," he told Mr Penny. "You got a hell of a chokehold, man."
Other passengers called 911.
Juan Alberto Vasquez, the freelance journalist who filmed the incident and posted the video online, said Mr Penny and Mr Neely "were just lying there".
"Then, when Jordan tried to escape again, they rolled over … then he wasn't moving anymore," he told New York Magazine later.
"I wanted to believe he had fainted.
"But I wasn't going to get involved in trying to free him or help him, because you don't know at what point you're going to get involved in something bigger."
The chokehold lasted almost 6 minutes.
Body camera footage showed police shaking Mr Neely, before medics tried chest compressions, CPR, a defibrillator and naloxone, a drug meant to counteract opioid overdoses.
His pulse was weak, according to police testimony later, and he was lying motionless on the ground.
"I just put him out," Mr Penny can be heard telling officers.
No one attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
When asked why, Sergeant Carl Johnson later testified Mr Neely was "very dirty".
"I didn't want my officers to put their lips on his mouth," he told the court.
"They could get hepatitis or AIDs … I wouldn't want one of my officers getting sick from this."
Mr Neely was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly afterwards.
The ex-marine who dreamed of bartending and the former Michael Jackson impersonator
Mr Penny, now 26, grew up in Long Island and joined the Marines in 2017, barely a year after graduating high school.
A non-commissioned officer, Mr Penny was honourably discharged, according to officials who spoke to online news outlet Gothamist.
Military records showed he had received several awards and ribbons during his service, leaving active duty after being promoted to sergeant in 2021.
He had dropped out of university, writing online that the experience left him "completely unfulfilled", adding he dreamed of bartending in Manhattan.
"During [my] travels, I rediscovered my love for interacting and connecting with people," he wrote.
"Being able to serve and connect with the most interesting and eccentric the world has to offer, is what I believe I am meant to do."
Jordan Neely's life had taken a different path.
When he was 14, his mother disappeared.
The two had been like "peas in a pod", his great-aunt told the New Yorker in 2023.
For several days, he kept getting dressed, going to school, not cooking for himself — afraid of getting in trouble.
He told his bus driver and his school principal about his mother being missing, as well as calling her work to ask if they had seen her.
"I don't know what to do, it's cold, the mail keeps coming in, the heat went off," he would later say.
Her body would be found a short time later, stuffed into a suitcase in the Bronx.
Her boyfriend was charged with murder — Mr Neely would testify at the trial five years later.
During his high school years, according to former classmates, Mr Neely was "very passionate" about dancing.
"Everyone called him Michael Jackson," one told the New York Times.
Dwayne Blizzard, a breakdancer who performed in Times Square and in subway stations, told New York Magazine he had invited Mr Neely to dance with his group after school.
"The dancing brought him out of his shell, made him feel more love for himself, and made him not worry so much about what was happening in his life," he said.
Mr Neely went on to drop out of school and later took to performing as a Michael Jackson impersonator on the subway, donning a wig, gilded trim jackets and the iconic white glove.
Outside of social media videos, outreach workers were familiar with Mr Neely and considered him in urgent need of care.
He had been arrested multiple times for offences including jumping subway turnstiles and trespassing.
Another Michael Jackson impersonator, Moses Harper, told New York Magazine she had seen Mr Neely for the last time on the subway in 2016.
"The shame hit him," she told the outlet, saying Mr Neely had smiled at her first before looking down and trying to walk past.
"He thought I was going to be ashamed to hug him. And I said, 'oh no, you're not going anywhere. You're getting off at the next stop with me'."
In March 2020, he was taken to Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital for a week.
He had also been hospitalised in the past for drug overdoses and psychological issues, and had been placed on the Department of Homeless Service's watch list.
The list, informally dubbed the "Top 50" list, was a roster of people considered most at risk and reluctant to accept help.
Court records showed he was arrested and charged with assault for punching a woman on the street in November 2021.
Prosecutor Dafna Yoran said in her opening statement that Mr Neely "took his last breaths on the dirty floor of an uptown F train".
"At the time he died he was 30 years old, homeless, suffering from mental illness," she said.
"We pass people like Jordan Neely every day in New York City, on our way to the store, on our way to work, on our way back."
"We are trained not to engage, to pretend that they are not there."
The 'subway strangling' that divided New York
Two days after the incident, a New York medical examiner ruled Mr Neely's death a homicide, caused by compression of the neck.
Mr Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter on May 5, 2023.
The case, particularly the video, divided New York, sparking both protests for Mr Neely and calls for commendation of Mr Penny.
The city's public advocate, Jumaane Williams, said Mr Neely had been "unjustly killed".
"To say anything else is an equivocation that only furthers a narrative that devalues the life of a black homeless man with mental health challenges," he said.
"[It] encourages an attitude of dehumanisation of New Yorkers in greatest need."
Others said Mr Penny had acted to protect other passengers and feared for his life.
A legal defence fund garnered almost $US3 million ($4.69 million) in just a few days.
Conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation called Mr Penny "innocent" and "a hero".
"In a city that desperately needs more like him, [District Attorney] Alvin Bragg wants to make sure the next Daniel Penny doesn't dare to help other victims," they wrote on social media.
Mr Penny was interviewed by police shortly after the incident, where he told them he had only been trying to "de-escalate" the situation.
He said Mr Neely was "just a crackhead", "acting like a lunatic".
"He was squirming around and getting loose and that's why I got nervous," he told them.
Mr Penny's legal team claimed other factors, including genetic sickle cell traits and drugs in his system, could have contributed to Mr Neely's death.
A medical examiner rejected this at trial.
As other passengers were "frozen in fear", Mr Penny's lawyer Steven Raiser said, her client "was the one who moved to protect them".
"He put his life on the line … he did that for perfect strangers," Mr Raiser said.
Prosecutors argued there was no justification for the chokehold, adding Mr Penny should have known from his time in the Marines that the manoeuvre was potentially deadly.
"[He] just didn't recognise that Jordan Neely, too, was a person that needed to be preserved," Ms Yoran said.
"Imagine not even caring enough to ask [if Mr Neely was OK]. The defendant, as kind and empathetic as we've heard he can be, seems to have a real blind spot for Mr Neely."
Last week, the jury announced it was deadlocked — it could not reach a verdict on the manslaughter charge.
At the prosecutors' request, the judge overseeing the trial approved a bid to dismiss the manslaughter charge and opt for a lesser offence.
Officials say Jordan Neely 'should not have had to die' as jury acquits Daniel Penny
It took a jury four days to acquit Mr Penny of criminally negligent homicide.
As Mr Penny's legal team embraced and congratulated him, Mr Neely's father, Andre Zachery, was asked to leave the room.
Outside the courthouse, police had been forced to separate two camps of supporters, who continued to hurl abuse at each other behind metal barricades.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office said in a statement the lengthy deliberation "underscored why this case was put in front of a jury of Mr Penny's peers".
"The jury has now spoken," they said.
"[We] deeply respect the jury process and we respect their verdict."
New York Mayor Eric Adams said during a news conference the city's mental health system was "broken", adding Mr Neely "should not have had to die".
"When you have someone repeatedly going through that system, that's a signature of failure," he said.
"We can't sit back and mourn the loss of someone that is caught up in the system when we're not taking action every day.
"This is not the first time, and I'm sure it's not going to be the last time, that individuals take action and people are going to question those actions.
"But … at the heart of this is that [Jordan Neely], like so many others, [was] on our subway systems.
"I made it clear that's not a place to sleep, to live, that's not a place to be. And when they need help, we need to give them the help."
Lawsuit by Neely family labelled an 'attack' on Penny
Mr Neely's family has already announced they will move forward with a civil case against Mr Penny.
A lawsuit filed last week by Mr Zachary accused Mr Penny of negligence, assault and battery, and seeks damages.
Mr Penny's legal team has dismissed the civil suit as a distraction, calling it an "attempt to attack Danny while he is under such tremendous stress".
The Neely family's lawyer, Dante Mills, said the jury had let them down.
"I promised this family that we would get justice, we're still going to do that," he said.
"We're going to move forward with our suit."
Outside court this week, Mr Zachary said: "I just want to say, I miss my son.
"My son didn't have to go through this. I didn't have to go through this. It hurts. Really, really hurts," he said.
"What are we going to do, people? What's going to happen to us now? I've had enough of this. The system is rigged."
It is unclear when the civil case will move forward.
