NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� After being 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 鈥渧ery vulnerable position鈥� but felt compelled to act.
鈥淚鈥檒l 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,鈥� Daniel Penny 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.
鈥淵es, he was acting erratically. But personally, I don鈥檛 believe being mentally unwell and being homeless is a crime worthy of death,鈥� said one of the organizers, Sean Blackmon.
An anonymous Manhattan jury cleared of a criminally negligent homicide charge in the death of , 30. The jury had deadlocked last week on a more serious manslaughter charge, which was .
Penny, who 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 鈥� 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 Fox News host Jeanine Pirro that he's 鈥渘ot a confrontational person.鈥� But he said he wouldn't have been able to live with 鈥渢he guilt I would have felt if someone did get hurt, if he did do what he was threatening to do."
Penny鈥檚 arm remained around Neely鈥檚 neck after another rider intervened to hold down the man's arms, and onlookers worried aloud that Neely might be dying, and he went still for nearly a minute, showed.
Penny told Pirro that he was in a 鈥渧ery vulnerable position鈥� as he restrained Neely on the subway floor.
鈥淚f 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 city officials as 鈥渟elf-serving,鈥� suggesting that they were refusing to scrutinize their own roles in the conditions that led to his encounter with Neely.
鈥淭hese are their policies that clearly have not worked,鈥� Penny said. But, he added, 鈥渢heir egos are too big just to admit that they鈥檙e wrong.鈥�
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat whose office brought the case, said after the verdict that prosecutors 鈥渇ollowed the facts and the evidence from beginning to end.鈥� His office had no further comment Tuesday.
During the , 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 and divided New Yorkers over issues of homelessness and public safety in a city where millions ride the subway every day.
Penny at the trial, but the heard what he told police shortly after his encounter with Neely. Describing Neely as 鈥渁 crackhead鈥� who was 鈥渁cting like a lunatic,鈥� Penny said he put the man in a chokehold and 鈥渏ust put him out鈥� in order to prevent him from injuring anyone.
鈥淚'm not trying to kill the guy,鈥� he told detectives in a recorded interview. 鈥淚'm just trying to de-escalate the situation.鈥�
A city medical examiner that the chokehold killed Neely, but Penny's defense .
Jennifer Peltz And Sanya Mansoor, The Associated Press
