The figure of Daniel Penny has divided public opinion in the United States, especially after this weekend, the newly elected president Donald Trump invited him with his vice president JD Vance to a college football game between Army and Navy.
The controversy is because former marine Penny was acquitted after the homicide of Jordan Neely, a homeless man, whom he applied a strangulation maneuver to in the New York City subway, and who died after six minutes of pressure on the neck.
Passengers recorded the moment of Neely's, 30 years old, death on May 1, 2023. Penny applied the strangulation maneuver to the individual after he shouted at the occupants of the car, saying he was hungry and thirsty, that he wanted to go back to jail, and that he didn't care if he died. Among the passengers was the former marine.
Daniel Penny said he performed the maneuver in defense of everyone in the Manhattan subway car, although witnesses claimed that the man did not touch anyone.
African American Jordan Neely was left dead at the scene in front of the astonished onlookers, many of whom were recording. Everything was captured on camera, but Penny claimed she didn't want to kill him, just restrain him until the police arrived.
Forensic studies determined that the deceased had synthetic marijuana in his system, in addition to suffering from anemia. It is also worth noting that he was schizophrenic.
Despite everything being recorded, a New York jury declared Daniel Penny innocent of criminally negligent homicide, a ruling that sparked a heated debate among the public opinion. Some condemn the decision and assert that the deceased did not physically assault anyone to deserve being attacked, while others defend Penny as a hero.
The case even caused great controversy due to the racial issue.
Who is Daniel Penny?
Daniel Penny is a Marine Corps veteran, who was 24 years old at the time of Jordan Neely's death. He is originally from Long Island. Despite the controversy surrounding his case, Donald Trump treated him as a special guest to watch the Army vs. Navy game with him from Trump's suite at the Washington Commanders Stadium in Landover, Maryland.
Independent reported that according to LinkedIn, Penny joined the United States Marine Corps in 2017, after graduating from West Islip High School, a village about 36 miles from Manhattan in Suffolk County.
He was a rifleman from 2017 to 2021 and reached the rank of sergeant. He was in the marines until 2021. The aforementioned media outlet says that he wrote "at a workplace in the service industry that his military experience helped him discover that he is 'passionate' about 'helping, communicating, and connecting with different people from around the world'."
The former marine said in interviews with The New York Post and Fox News that he was a leader of an infantry squad and a water survival instructor. He was also deployed twice with trips to Spain, Greece, Jordan, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Japan.
In pictures on the All Trails website, it shows that they have been to New England, Hawaii, Honduras, and North Carolina. Currently, they are studying architecture.