New York City Marine Corps veteran Daniel Penny had a powerful first interview with Judge Jeanine Pirro since a jury found him not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the strangulation death of Jordan Neely on the subway.
“He just threatened to kill people,” Penny said in a preview that aired on “The Five” on Tuesday. “He was threatening to go to prison forever, to go to prison for life. And now I'm on the ground with him. I'm on my back in a very vulnerable position… I should have just left you alone.'' Go, now I'm lying on my back and he can turn around and start doing what he said – to kill and hurt me. ”
Penny has been released for questioning for about two years after a near-fatal encounter with Neely, who was grabbed by a 26-year-old architecture student on a Manhattan F train, got high on drugs and threatened to kill someone. He was arrested a week later in May 2023. Headlock from behind.
Daniel Penny found not guilty in subway chokehold trial
Daniel Penny sits across from Judge Jeanine Pirro on Fox News for first television interview after being found not guilty in the strangulation death of Jordan Neely on the subway (FOX Nation)
I would never be able to live with myself with the guilt I would feel if someone actually got hurt and did what he threatened. And I will go to court a million times and accept that people will badmouth me and that people will hate me, just to keep one of them from getting hurt or killed.
Penny described herself as a non-confrontational person. He said he feels uncomfortable with all the attention he has received since the incident – strong praise from some and demonization from others.
“I never wanted attention or praise, and I still don't,” he said. “I would never be able to live with myself with the guilt I would feel if someone were actually hurt or did what he threatened to do. I'll go to court a million times and people will slander me and criticize me. People hate me just so one of them doesn't get hurt or killed. ”
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WATCH: Daniel Penny speaks out for the first time after being found not guilty
Penney also called the policies of officials like Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who spearheaded the failed lawsuit against him, as politically motivated and dependent on policies that are “clearly not working.” It was viewed as a problem because of this.
”[Policies] “The people and the general public don't support it, but their egos are too big to admit they're wrong,” he said.
Neely had an active arrest warrant at the time of his death and a long criminal history. He had schizophrenia and substance abuse problems. According to preliminary reports, three days before Penny's encounter, a subway passenger had been stabbed with an ice pick on another train. A PBS reporter was badly punched on another train, and more than 20 people had been thrown off subway platforms in the year before Penny's arrest.
Daniel Penny arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, December 9, 2024, in New York City. A jury continues deliberating in the trial of Jordan Neely, who died on a New York City subway in 2023. (Adam Gray, Fox News Digital)
There was an atmosphere of fear, and the straphangers were on high alert. Penny also mentioned other incidents during a voluntary interview with police after he remained at the scene.
“He was talking gibberish…but they're shoving people in front of trains and stuff,” he told detectives. They released him without charge, but Mr. Bragg's office secured charges 11 days later.
A witness, 19-year-old student Yvette Rosario, said Neely yelled, “Someone is going to die that day.”
Screenshot of bystander video showing Jordan Neely being strangled on the New York City subway. (Luces de Nueva York/Juan Alberto Vazquez, via Storyful)
“The tone he was speaking in scared me,” she said. “I've seen the situation and it's not like that.”
Neely was free to threaten subway passengers on the day of his death, but it was Penny that Bragg tried to send to prison.
Witnesses said Neely's threats were scarier than a typical subway riot. They were grateful for Penny's intervention.
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Jordan Neely is pictured outside the Regal Cinemas on 8th Avenue and 42nd Street in New York's Times Square in 2009 before going to see the Michael Jackson movie “This Is It.” (Andrew Sabrich/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Penny, a retired Marine from Long Island who won a humanitarian award for his work helping hurricane victims, was described by friends as calm and empathetic during trial testimony. He played lacrosse, was in the school orchestra as a teenager, and after being honorably discharged from the military worked two jobs while studying architecture at New York City Polytechnic Institute.
The full interview will be streamed on FOX Nation on Wednesday.
