'Daniel Penny is a hero - we were scared for our lives': Woman who was on train when Marine veteran put Jordan Neely in a chokehold says he was 'distraught' after accidentally killing him - as she calls for charges to be dropped
Penny is facing up to 15 years in prison for putting Neely in a chokehold. A female witness says he did the right thing by protecting the fellow passengers
By Jen Smith
Daily Mail
May 18, 2023
A woman witnessed Marine veteran Daniel Penny putting Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold has called him a 'hero' who was protecting other passengers who were 'scared for their lives' when Neely, a mentally ill homeless man, started screaming and threatening them on May 1.
Penny, 24, is 15 years in prison on a second degree manslaughter charge for putting Neely in the chokehold.
Despite a wave of public support and testimony from others on the train who say he acted out of bravery, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's office is pushing ahead with the prosecution.
One of the women on the train was an unidentified 66-year-old who previously spoke out in defense of Penny.
Penny came to the aid of straphangers while others stood silently by
Now, another is telling her story of how Penny protected them.
'It was self-defense, and I believe in my heart that he saved a lot of people that day that could have gotten hurt,' she told FOX News.
The woman, also in her sixties, said she was reading her book in peace on the train when she heard Neely begin to yell.
'He said, "I don’t care if I have to kill an f, I will. I’ll go to jail, I’ll take a bullet." I’m looking at where we are in the tube, in the sardine can, and I’m like, "OK, we’re in between stations. There’s nowhere we can go."
Penny's attorney Steve Raiser says he was acting in self-defense
'The people on that train, we were scared. We were scared for our lives.'
Penny, she says, waited until the last minute to take Neely down.
By the time the train arrived at Broadway-Lafayette station, Neely was being held down by Penny and two others.
Penny continued to hold onto him, even as bystanders warned that he risked killing him.
A video of that moment has been widely viewed and triggered protests, claims of racism and uproar in New York City.
But the witness says Penny was 'distraught' upon realizing Neely had died.
'You should have seen the way Mr. Penny looked. He was distraught. He was very, very, very visibly distressed. And he didn’t go. He didn’t run. He stayed.
Neely's aunt and father say he was difficult to pin down because he was homeless. Neely's criminal record included 42 arrests, including for assaulting people on the subway
'Nobody wants to kill anybody. Mr. Penny didn’t want to kill that man. It took three men to hold Mr. Neely down. He was struggling,' she said.
The woman, who described herself as a 'woman of color', said race has nothing to do with what happened on the train.
'This isn't about race. This is about people of all colors who were very, very afraid and a man who stepped in to help them.
'Race is being used to divide us.'
She said New York - a city where she has lived for 50 years - was starting to look like a 'Third World Country'.
'I miss the city under the law and order of Giuliani. When it comes to exposing people or subjecting them to violent behavior, the people who are in power and supposed to protect us are not.'
Penny's attorneys have raised $2.6million through a GiveSendGo page.
They say he was simply trying to protect others on the train. Thousands of others agree.
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