After acquittal in subway chokehold trial, Daniel Penny says he was 'vulnerable' in the encounter
The Marine veteran who choked a volatile, mentally ill man on a New York subway says he put himself in a “very vulnerable position."
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.After being acquitted of homicide, the military veteran who choked a volatile, mentally ill man on a New York subway told an interviewer he put himself in a “very vulnerable position” but felt compelled to act.
“I’ll take a million court appearances and people calling me names and people hating me, just to keep one of those people from getting hurt or killed,” Daniel Penny told Fox News in a clip that aired Tuesday, a day after the verdict.
Meanwhile, scores of New Yorkers protested the trial outcome, holding signs and chanting Jordan Neely's name in a Manhattan square Tuesday evening.
An anonymous Manhattan jury cleared Penny of a criminally negligent homicide charge in the death of Neely, 30. The jury had deadlocked last week on a more serious manslaughter charge, which was dismissed.
Penny, who had served four years in the Marines, put Neely in a chokehold for about six minutes after Neely had an outburst that frightened riders on a subway car on May 1, 2023. Penny is white. Neely was Black.
According to passengers, Neely hadn't touched anyone but had expressed willingness to die, go to jail — even to kill, some said. The former street performer was homeless, had schizophrenia, had synthetic marijuana in his system and had been convicted of assaulting people at subway stations.
In his first extensive comments since the trial began, Penny told Jeanine Pirro that he's “not a confrontational person.” But he said he wouldn't have been able to live with “the guilt I would have felt if someone did get hurt, if he did do what he was threatening to do."
He said he put himself in a “very vulnerable position” as he restrained Neely on the subway floor.
“If I just let him go, I'm on my back now, he could just turn around and start doing what he said to me...killing, hurting," Penny said in the clips, aired ahead of the planned release of the full interview Wednesday on the Fox Nation streaming service.
Penny, 26, also criticized officials involved in his prosecution as “self-serving,” suggesting that they were refusing to scrutinize their own roles in the conditions that led to his encounter with Neely.
“These are their policies that clearly have not worked,” Penny said. But, he added, “their egos are too big just to admit that they’re wrong.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat whose office brought the case, said after the verdict that prosecutors “followed the facts and the evidence from beginning to end.” His office had no further comment Tuesday.
During the monthlong trial, prosecutors said Penny went too far in responding to Neely, who was unarmed. The veteran's lawyers argued that he put his own safety on the line to protect other passengers from a threatening man.
The case sparked national debate and divided New Yorkers over issues of homelessness and public safety in a city where millions ride the subway every day.
Penny chose not to testify at the trial, but the anonymous jury heard what he told police in the minutes and hours after his encounter with Neely. Describing Neely as “a crackhead” who was “acting like a lunatic,” Penny said he put the man in a chokehold and “just put him out” in order to prevent him from injuring anyone.
“I'm not trying to kill the guy,” he told detectives in a recorded interview. “I'm just trying to de-escalate the situation.”
A city medical examiner determined that the chokehold killed Neely, but Penny's defense challenged the finding.
Jurors also heard testimony from other passengers on the train and saw videos that some recorded. The jury also heard from police, pathologists, a psychiatric expert, a Marine Corps instructor who taught Penny chokehold techniques and Penny’s relatives, friends and fellow Marines.