The case of Daniel Penny and Jordan Neely has become a centre for debates surrounding mental health, homelessness, public safety and race in the United States. On May 1st 2023 Daniel Penny a former Marine, restrained Jordan Neely a homeless black man in a chokehold on a New York City Subway. This incident caused Neely’s death and Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
This case has gained a lot of attention because it involves several important issues. Neely’s erotic behaviour on the Subway raised concerns about how society handles mental health and homelessness, especially in larger cities. The fact that Neely was unarmed and dealing with mental health problems shows that there is a lack of support for people who are vulnerable and in need of help.
At the same time, Penny’s actions raised concerns about safety in cities like New York where Subway incidents can make people feel unsafe. Some people support Penny saying he was just trying to protect other passengers while others believe he used too much force and didn’t try just to act smoothly. This incident raised the topic of racism because of the fact that Penny is white and Neely is black which made the situation even more complicated. Even some people started drawing comparisons to other cases of violence against black people in the US. There is a peculiar difference of opinion regarding the incident which made it more interesting to the public.
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The Incident
On May 1, 2023, a tragic incident occurred on the New York City Subway train. Jordan Neely a 30-year-old homeless man with mental health problems got on the uptown F train in Manhattan. He was reportedly yelling about needing food and expressing sadness and some passengers thought his behaviour seemed threatening even though he was unarmed.
Daniel Penny a 25-year-old former Marine decided to involved. He went up to Neely from behind held him down on the ground and applied a chokehold for nearly 6 minutes. Two other passengers also helped to hold Neely down. The video footage of the incident clearly shows that Neely struggling before he stopped moving and Penny didn’t let him go even when the passengers told him.
The New York City medical examiner later determined that Neely’s state was caused by the chokehold, determining it a homicide due to compression of the neck. Just let to criminal charges against Penny for second-degree maths laughter and criminally negligent homicide. The incident was also recorded by the people nearby and the videos spread so quickly causing a lot of debate on the incident. Many people protest that Neely was wrong and that Penny used too much force calling for justice on the other hand penis is a supporter of climate he was just protecting himself and others calling him a “Good Samaritan”
