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U.S. Marine veteran Daniel Penny is speaking out for the first time in an interview following the death of Jordan Neely.
Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter after restraining Neely, who was attacking innocent people on a New York subway.
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Although Penny is “deeply saddened” by Neely’s death, he said that he’s not ashamed or regretful.
Left-wing activists have attacked Penny and falsely claimed he’s racist.
“I judge a person based on their character,” Penny said. “I’m not a white supremacist.”
“I mean, it’s, it’s a little bit comical,” he continued. “Everybody who’s ever met me can tell you, I love all people, I love all cultures.”
Neely, who was a homeless man suffering from a mental illness, had been arrested over 40 times. Several witnesses said Neely was making direct threats, scaring passengers, and punching random people in unprovoked attacks.
“You can tell by my past and all my travels and adventures around the world. I was actually planning a road trip through Africa before this happened,” Penny added.
Daniel Penny put his life on the line as a Marine.
He stepped up and restrained a violent felon from terrorizing an innocent woman on the subway.
HE SHOULD BE FREED. pic.twitter.com/wCr6oT981L
— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) May 13, 2023
“It’s tragic what happened to him,” Penny said about Neely. “Hopefully, we can change the system that’s so desperately failed us.”
Penny said that the incident “had nothing to do with race.”
Three men attempted to restrain Neely as he attacked people on the subway. Freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez caught the incident on tape.
One innocent bystander said Neely tried to kill him by pushing him onto the subway tracks.
A female eyewitness told Fox News that Penny was a “hero.”
Nobody stepped in to save this woman from getting punched in the face on the subway in NYC – they just recorded
This is what happens when you stop prosecuting violent criminals & arrest Good Samaritans
This is going to happen a *lot* more in NYC after the arrest of Daniel Penny https://t.co/xa7s4K5Hhv pic.twitter.com/8uSTmT8bVl
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) May 13, 2023
“It was self-defense,” the witness said. “And I believe in my heart that Penny saved a lot of people that day that could have gotten hurt.”
“I’m sitting on a train reading my book, and, all of a sudden, I hear someone spewing this rhetoric,” the witness explained. “He said, ‘I don’t care if I have to kill an F, I will. I’ll go to jail, I’ll take a bullet.’”
Penny is due back to court in July. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.
