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‘Get the hell out of NYC!’ Grand jury indicts heroic ex-Marine for subway chokehold incident

June 15, 2023 | | Print Article

Former U.S. Marine Daniel Penny has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in last month’s death of homeless schizophrenic subway antagonist Jordan Neely.

As BizPac Review reported, Penny, 24, was riding the F train when Neely “stumbled on” and began “threatening” passengers.

Fearing for the safety of the other riders, Penny placed Neely in a chokehold to subdue him. The disturbed Neely lost consciousness and ultimately died as a result of the incident.

Liberals seized the moment and declared Neely to be the victim of yet another hate-fueled death at the hands of a white man. But Penny has adamantly denied his response to Neely’s erratic behavior had anything to do with race.

“I didn’t see a black man threatening passengers, I saw a man threatening passengers, a lot of whom were people of color,” he told the New York Post in May.

The office of Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg arrested Penny for second-degree manslaughter, but the details of his indictment have not yet been released, according to ABC News. The charges against Penny will not be revealed until the former Marine’s next court date.

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Witnesses told authorities that Neely was threatening riders on the train. As BPR reported, Penny recalled those threats in a video that was released on Sunday by his attorney.

“I was listening to music at the time, and I took my headphones out to hear what he was yelling,” Penny said. “The three main threats that he repeated over and over again were I’m going to kill you, I’m prepared to go to jail for life and I’m willing to die.”

But according to ABC News police sources, authorities are arguing that Penny wasn’t being specifically threatened by Neely when the ex-Marine acted to restrain the ranting man.

“The man stumbled on, he appeared to be on drugs, the doors closed, and he ripped his jacket off and threw it down at the people sitting next to me at my left,” Penny said.

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Penny maintains that he had no intention of killing Neely, who had a very long rap sheet and was known to be violent.

“Some people say that I was holding on to Mr. Neely for 15 minutes. This is not true — between stops is only a couple of minutes. So the whole interaction lasted less than 5 minutes,” Penny said. “Some people say I was trying to choke him to death — which is also not true. I was trying to restrain him.”

“You can see in the video there’s a clear rise and fall of his chest, indicating that he’s breathing. I’m trying to restrain him from being able to carry out the threats,” he added.

What’s more, one of the two passengers who rushed to assist Penny was black, making a racial motivation for the incident unlikely.

“The man who helped restrain Mr. Neely was a person of color,” Penny said. “A few days after the incident I read in the papers that a woman of color came out and called me a hero. I don’t believe that I’m a hero, but she was one of those people I was trying to protect, who were all scared.”

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Online, many are seeing the indictment of Penny as yet another politically motivated move from Bragg’s office.

“Hero indicted,” tweeted conservative icon, Mark Levin. “Law-abiding citizens, get the hell out of NYC as fast as possible.  Your liberty and life depend on it.”

Meanwhile, violence continues to plague the Big Apple’s subways.

Devictor Ouedraogo, 36, was harassing riders on a northbound J train when he focused his attention on 20-year-old Jordan Williams and his female companion, according to the New York Post.

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When Ouedraogo allegedly punched the woman in the face, Williams, after a brief fight that included dueling headlock, pulled out a knife and stabbed the aggressor twice. Ouedraogo was later pronounced dead at Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.

Williams was arrested and charged on Wednesday with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.

And, as with Neely, it turns out that Ouedraogo had his share of previous run-ins with the law. In August 2009, he was behind prison bars on an attempted Queens robbery, The Post reports. He “was sentenced to three and a half years and was paroled in April of 2012 to immigration,” though it is not known if he was ever actually deported or even from whence he came.

Williams’ attorney Jason Goldman drew comparisons to Penny’s case.

“It’s upsetting to see that Mr. Williams is even being charged without a thorough investigation. We already know that the victim punched his girlfriend and menaced passengers,” Goldman said. “Is Mr. Williams not getting the same treatment that Mr. Penny received — released, voluntary surrender, and low bail — because his skin color is different and he comes from a particular neighborhood?”

Online, others are asking similar questions.

“This is what the Daniel Penny trial is all about. Whether or not these savages get to kill us & live to see another day,” one user wrote on Twitter. “Penny’s arrest & indictment is an injustice.”

Melissa Fine
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