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.

Jordan Neeley’s death was a direct result of the chokehold Daniel Penny held him in, a medical examiner testified Friday, rebutting assertions from the defense team that the former Marine did not apply enough pressure to kill the subway rider and that his death could have had some other cause.