Daniel Penny explains in his own words why he restrained Jordan Neely on the subway for so long
(CNN) — Speaking publicly for the first time since his acquittal, Daniel Penny said he restrained Jordan Neely on a subway car last May for more than five minutes because Neely was “extraordinarily strong” and Penny was worried he would get up and attack him or someone else.
“Part of my worry was if I let him go and an incoming train comes, as he’s running away, pushes somebody onto the tracks,” Penny said in an interview with Fox News host Jeanine Pirro. “It’s part of the reason why I did what I did in the way that I did it.”
Penny did not testify during his criminal trial. The Fox interview is the first time Penny has spoken publicly in detail about the event, and the venue represented friendly terrain as Pirro thanked Penny for his actions.
The Marine veteran said in the Fox News interview he was also concerned about his own safety.
“I’m on the ground with him, I’m on my back in a very vulnerable position,” he said. “If I would have just let him go, I’m on my back now, he can just turn around and start doing what he said to me.”
“Killing,” Pirro said.
“Killing, hurting,” Penny responded.
During the trial, several witnesses testified they heard Neely say he was willing to go to jail for life but did not testify they heard him say he would kill.
The interview came after Penny was acquitted by a jury on a criminally negligent homicide charge in a case that raised questions about the safety of the New York City subways and what constitutes self-defense.
Penny also faced a more serious second-degree manslaughter charge, but Judge Maxwell Wiley dismissed it at the request of prosecutors after jurors twice told the court they could not come to a verdict on the count. He could have faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter.
The case stemmed from the death of Neely, a 30-year-old street artist who struggled with homelessness, mental illness and drugs, on a subway car on May 1, 2023.
Prosecutors argued Penny went too far in putting Neely in a chokehold for so long, including after Neely stopped moving, while his defense said he was acting to protect others from a threat and challenged the medical examiner’s determination Neely died from the chokehold.
He defended his actions in the Fox interview and said he would do the same thing again.
“The guilt I would have felt if someone did get hurt, if he did do what he was threatening to do, I would never be able to live with myself,” Penny said. “I’ll 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.”
Penny says witnesses thanked him
In the interview, Penny said he was on his way from college classes at the New York City College of Technology, also known as City Tech, to the gym when Neely “barreled” onto the train, threw down his jacket, yelled demands for food and drink and said he was willing to go to jail for life or hurt and kill people if he didn’t get them.
“This was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” Penny said. “I believed what he was saying.”
He said he was nervous and scared, and over about 15 seconds, he considered what to do.
“Should I just wait? Should I go to a different car? Should I move away?” he said. “But I saw the looks on the mother, on the school kids, on the other passengers – women, children. I felt like the threats were imminent and something had to be done.”
Penny then grabbed Neely from behind in a chokehold and took him to the ground. He said he hoped that the train would get to the station and police would arrive and take over, but police took several minutes to get there.
He said Neely was “thrashing” and using the subway pole to try to escape the restraint. He described Neely as “extraordinarily strong” and so believed he was on drugs.
Several other people helped restrain Neely, including one man who grabbed his arms. “He said, ‘You can let him go once I grab him,’ (and) I said, ‘He’s gonna break out of that,’ knowing how strong he is.”
Other subway riders thanked him for stepping in to help, he said.
Asked whether he feels the Neely family’s loss, he responded, “Of course.”
What’s next for Penny
In the immediate aftermath of his acquittal Monday, Penny and his legal team went to a bar in lower Manhattan, a bar employee told CNN by phone. There, Penny held a drink in one hand while giving a thumbs-up with the other in a posed picture with his attorneys Thomas Kenniff and Steven Raiser, according to a photo from Kenniff.
The post-verdict celebration underscores a basic fact about Penny’s future: The 26-year-old is now a free man.
His exact plans remain unclear. His attorneys have not responded to a CNN request for comment on his future.
While the criminal case against him is over, Penny still faces a civil lawsuit from Neely’s father, Andre Zachery, accusing Penny of assault, battery and causing Neely’s death. Zachery, who is listed as the administrator of Neely’s estate, accused Penny of having caused the death due to “negligence, carelessness and recklessness.” The suit does not specify the amount of money the family is seeking.
Kenniff, Penny’s defense attorney, did not respond to a request for comment on the suit.
As for Penny’s life and career, he took college classes in engineering and architecture at City Tech. He also served four years in the Marines as a sergeant, from 2017 to 2021, with his last duty assignment at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, according to military records.
After restraining Neely last May, Penny spoke with police and made small talk with a detective about his Marine service and career plans.
“I’m in school. I’m using that GI Bill,” Penny said, referring to the federal program that offers benefits to veterans for higher education. “But we’ll see. I miss the Marine Corps. I miss the camaraderie.”
Further, the trial and debate over his actions on the subway have made him a recognizable public figure and a political talking point – for better or worse.
“Certainly you’ll find people in society who look down upon what he did and his actions, but equally I think you’ll see people who are really favorably inclined to embrace him because of his actions,” CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson said.
Penny’s controversial actions in restraining Neely made him a target of protests outside court throughout the trial. The not-guilty verdict further sparked emotions Monday: Neely’s father was escorted out of the courtroom after the verdict was read following an audible outburst with expletives, and Hawk Newsome, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, yelled “Small world, buddy,” at Penny while being led out.
“I now have to kind of look over my shoulder. There’s a lot of crazy people out there,” Penny said in the Fox News interview. “I have to worry about my family, and I have to worry about my future, which is harder to even comprehend.”
On the other hand, right-wing political figures have praised his actions and elevated him as a hero. President-elect Donald Trump previously commented on the case, telling Fox News, “It’s an awfully tough case, I think.” Vice President-elect JD Vance expressed his support for Penny on Monday, saying on X, “thank God justice was done in this case.”
Rep. Eli Crane, a Republican from Arizona, introduced a resolution in Congress on Monday to grant Penny a Congressional Gold Medal for his “heroism,” he said in a post on X.
Penny told Fox News he’s not a “confrontational person” and said he was uncomfortable with the public attention.
“I still feel completely normal,” Penny said. “I don’t feel exceptional in any way, and I don’t want to feel that. I don’t want praise, I don’t want attention, I don’t want limelight. It just makes me very uncomfortable. I’d like to just go back to normal, but we’ll see.”
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CNN’s Lauren del Valle, Gloria Pazmino, Celina Tebor and Emma Tucker contributed to this report.
