Daniel Penny Rails Against Failed Policies, Prosecutors’ ‘Arrogance’ in Revealing First Interview

Marine vet Daniel Penny blamed a failed criminal justice system for forcing him into his highly-charged encounter with vagrant Jordan Neely on a crowded subway train — and slammed Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg for taking him to trial in the case.

Penny, 26, speaking to Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro in his first interview since a jury acquitted him of negligent homicide charges, said prosecutors seem to have their heads in the sand.

“It really showed their arrogance in kind of their lack of understanding of what’s really happening and, really, what public perception of crime [is],” he said. “And no matter whatever anyone says on the news, it’s pretty prevalent. It just showed their arrogance that they were going to get me on something.

“It was disheartening for sure — and I don’t mean to get political,” he told Pirro. “These are their policies that have clearly not worked, that the people, the general population are not in support of.

“Yet, their egos are too big just to admit that they’re wrong and they can’t reverse what they’ve done, because that’s a political suicide for them, I guess,” Penny said.

He said he was taken aback by how far the city subway system had deteriorated upon his return from active military duty when he began living and studying in the five boroughs.

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Penny, who grew up in West Islip and had two deployments while in the Marine Corps, said he was on his way home from classes at City Tech in Brooklyn when he found himself in the middle of the heated subway scene on May 1, 2023.

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He said he took off his earbuds as things quickly unfolded “to keep an eye on the situation” as Neely began screaming and threatening straphangers, loudly making demands from frightened passengers for fast food and drinks, and warned that he was willing to kill someone and go to jail.

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“The threats were imminent and something had to be done,” he said. “[Passengers] were holding each other and just — and people were stuck to their chairs. They felt pinned, and I felt pinned. I felt nervous, I felt scared.”

He said that’s when he decided to act.

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“It’s almost like he was shocked that someone did something. {snip}

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