The Marine Corps has confirmed the identity of the former Marine from Queens who put a man into a fatal chokehold in a high-profile incident last week on a New York City subway.
The 24-year-old who responded to an outburst from a homeless man was identified by the Marine Corps as Daniel J. Penny, according to the U.K. Daily Mail. The death of the man, identified as Jordan Neely, 30, has been ruled a homicide by the medical examiner’s office.
There have been no charges brought yet in the case.
According to the Daily Mail, Penny left the Marine Corps in June 2021 after four years, ending his service at Camp LeJeune as a sergeant in the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, 2nd Marine Division.
Penny, who was awarded seven medals, was deployed from December 2018 to July 2019 in the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit in the Mediterranean Sea region.
Two news outlets have identified the man who choked Jordan Neely to death as 24-year-old ex-Marine Daniel Penny. https://t.co/kf44XZ2Yem
— Intelligencer (@intelligencer) May 5, 2023
A statement from Penny’s law firm, Raiser and Keniff in New York City, said Penny sought to protect the passengers in the subway car and called Neely’s death on Monday “a tragic incident,” according to the New York Daily News.
“When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived,” the statement said.
“Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death,” the statement said.
Daniel Penny the hero Marine is going to get sued by lowlifes. His best move is to file a lawsuit first. The subway psycho caused harm to him. Make the other side defend the behavior. Always counter-attack. Don’t be defensive. Always force the enemy to respond to your aggression.
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) May 6, 2023
Neely had 42 arrests in the past 10 years.
“For too long, those suffering from mental illness have been treated with indifference,” the statement from Penny’s lawyers said. “We hope that out of this awful tragedy will come a new commitment by our elected officials to address the mental health crisis on our streets and subways.”
A report in the New York Post said Penny was taken into custody but released without being. The report stated that a grand jury could consider the case in the coming week.
Neely’s death has galvanized protests.
Lennon Edwards, a lawyer for Neely’s family, said Neely was “robbed of his life in a brutal way by someone who decided that they were judge, jury and executioner on the spot. We can’t have vigilantes, and we can’t have people taking the law into their own hands,” according to The New York Times.
Other New Yorkers interviewed have said Neely provoked the incident.
“I feel sorry for the man, but he was acting threatening,” Maria Castaño of Brooklyn told the Times.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
