Daniel Penny has been found not guilty by a jury in Manhattan of killing Jordan Neely in a subway train chokehold incident. Penny was found not guilty in this case which went viral and was caught on video. It made people talk about the city’s mental health system and subway crime.
Just wait for the legacy fake news outlets to start the battle cry that white supremacist vigilantism is on the rise.
The charges? Criminally negligent homicide, which could’ve landed him in prison for up to four years. Instead, the jury said, “Nah,” siding with Penny’s defense that the Marine veteran acted to protect others on that crowded uptown F train back in May 2023.
Oh, and the manslaughter charge? Tossed faster than a bad movie sequel after jurors couldn’t reach a unanimous decision. Twice.
Penny walked out of court a free man, leaving a divided city behind him. According to his attorney, Steven Raiser, the real question isn’t what happened on that subway—it’s who you want with you when chaos strikes. Raiser put it bluntly:
“Who do you want on the next train ride with you? The guy with the earbuds minding his own business who you know would be there for you if something happened? Or perhaps you just hope that someone like Jordan Neely does not enter that train when you are all alone, all alone in a crowd of others frozen with fear?”
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELI mean, that’s one way to frame it.
During the trial, jurors heard from over 40 witnesses, many of whom described Neely’s behavior that day as terrifying. One passenger said she was “scared s—less” when Neely started ranting about being “willing to die and go to jail.” Another woman labeled his outburst “satanic,” while a mom barricaded her 5-year-old behind a stroller, fearing for their lives.
Neely, however, didn’t physically attack anyone or flash a weapon—unless you count the muffin in his pocket. Yes, really. A muffin.
The case divided New Yorkers and the nation. Some saw Penny as a hero who stepped in where the system failed. Even Mayor Eric Adams chimed in, saying Penny did “what we should have done as a city” by stepping up to protect people.
Prosecutors, however, saw it differently, arguing that Penny’s actions crossed the line. Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran summed it up in her closing argument:
“What’s so tragic about this case is that even though the defendant started out trying to do the right thing, as the chokehold progressed, the defendant knew that Jordan Neely was in severe distress and dying, and he needlessly continued.”
Jurors saw frame-by-frame video showing Penny holding Neely in a chokehold for 51 seconds after he went limp. Witnesses allegedly begged Penny to let go, but he continued. A city medical examiner declared Neely’s death a homicide, claiming the chokehold was the cause.
But Penny’s defense had its own medical expert, who threw in a smorgasbord of alternate causes: sickle cell crisis, schizophrenia, synthetic marijuana (aka K2), and even the general stress of the situation.
Penny didn’t testify, as is his right, but jurors heard his words from the day of the incident. On the platform, he reportedly told police, “I just put him out,” complete with a choking gesture. During a police interrogation, Penny insisted he was only trying to “de-escalate the situation.”
“I’m not trying to kill the guy,” Penny said. “I’m just trying to keep him from hurting anybody else.”
And in a moment that summed up the broader frustrations over subway crime, Penny added:
“All these people are pushing people in front of the train and stuff.”
Neely’s death reignited debates over mental health and homelessness in New York City. Despite being on the NYPD’s radar as an “emotionally disturbed person” in dozens of previous incidents, Neely slipped through the cracks of the city’s broken mental health system. Penny’s lawyer drove the point home:
“This case is about a broken system, a broken system that does not help our mentally ill or our unhoused.”
So, what do we make of this? Was Penny a Good Samaritan who stepped in when the city failed? Or did his actions go too far? The jury’s answer is clear, but the debate over subway safety, mental health, and personal responsibility is far from over. The only time New York politicians do something about crime is in an election year, and the people know it. After the BLM riots, Americans overall are sick of violence on the streets.
Money is used to cause division. You can get corporations to donate money to your cause, so get ready for the rhetoric to be ramped up by loudmouth community activists who have wanted this case to be seen as a racial incident when anyone with a triple-digit IQ who saw the media images and heard the testimony of what happened during the incident on that train knows that Penny was not trying to kill Neely and it was not a racially motivated incident.
Say a prayer for Penny and Neely’s families because it looks like a man lost his life because the government of New York let a man with serious problems and issues, who they knew about, go on and threaten a bunch of innocent people on the public transit system.
One positive outcome of this verdict is the reinstatement of self-defense as a legitimate right for New Yorkers in a system where prosecutors often lack focus on why they were elected, spending their time instead supporting leniency on criminals.
#danielpennyverdict #nycmentalhealthcrisis #subwaysafety
