Indictment of Marine veteran Daniel Penny 'defies logic': Bruce Blakeman
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman joined 'Fox & Friends' to discuss his take on the charges facing Daniel Penny and his concerns surrounding the broader implications of the case.
Marine veteran Daniel Penny's alleged indictment sparked outrage among critics who claim the former service member sprang into action to save the lives of others who were reportedly threatened by a homeless man on a New York City subway.
Penny was indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday in connection with the May death of Jordan Neely, who had reportedly threatened passengers, prompting Penny to restrain him in a chokehold.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R) tore into the indictment during "Fox & Friends," arguing the decision "defies logic."
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"There's something rotten about this prosecution, just like there was something rotten about the prosecution of Joseph Alba, the bodega store worker who was defending himself," Blakeman told Steve Doocy on Thursday.
"Daniel Penny's the Good Samaritan, and if you listen to the witnesses' accounts of what happened, it defies logic that he's being prosecuted."
A Manhattan grand jury indicted Penny on one count each of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter for the homeless man’s May 1 death, sources told Fox News.
Neely, who suffered from mental illness and had a long history of violent attacks on subway riders, stormed onto the train at the Second Avenue station in Manhattan at about 2:30 p.m., screaming and threatening passengers.
Marine veteran Daniel Penn is escorted in handcuffs by the New York City Police Department after turning himself into the 5th Precinct in Lower Manhattan on May 12, 2023. (Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Penny then reportedly approached Neely from behind, wrapped his arm around Neely's neck and dragged him to the floor, as two other men helped restrain him until he went limp.
Several minutes of the fatal encounter were captured by cellphone video, prompting outrage and widespread protests. Neely's death was ultimately ruled a homicide.
Penny faces a maximum of five to 15 years in prison if convicted of one count of second-degree manslaughter.
"People who criticize me for speaking out about Daniel Penny, I looked them in the eye and I said, 'let me ask you a question. Would you want Daniel Penny on a subway with your daughter or would you want Jordan Neely?' And that shuts them up right away because people with common sense, Good Samaritans, they realize that we want people to take action when someone is doing something that could be harmful to others," Blakeman said.
"The police can't be everywhere at the same time, and we have a great police department in my county, but we have to depend on Good Samaritans from time to time to ensure public safety," he continued, pointing out that Neely was "arrested 42 times [and] allegedly punched a 62-year-old woman in the eye, and broke her eye socket."
Criminal defense attorney Lexie Rigden echoed Blakeman's sentiment on Thursday, arguing she was not shocked Penny was charged given the "low standard" of "reasonable cause."
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"I'm not surprised that it was returned," Rigden told Brian Kilmeade. "Indictments are, as we've all been saying, with all the high-profile indictments, you can indict a ham sandwich, so I'm not surprised that he was indicted because the standard is very low."
"It is simply that there was reasonable cause to believe a crime was committed," she continued. "So, simply because an indictment was returned does not mean that this case isn't going to be able to resolve."
Penny's attorneys released a series of videos over the weekend in which Penny denies intending to choke Neely to death, describing the events leading up to the deadly encounter.
He said he was trying to "restrain" Neely in order to protect his fellow passengers, and also said the entire incident was much shorter than what was being reported. He also argued the situation had nothing to do with race, despite far-left media narratives describing it as such.
Rigden said she thought releasing the string of videos was beneficial for his case, since press coverage has "largely" been working "against" him.
"He gave an interview that it was a five-minute chokehold, but there was a false narrative out there, according to him, that it was a 15-minute chokehold, so I think that it's important, and his attorneys basically said that if he doesn't come on and correct this, at some point, it ends up being the narrative and the accepted truth by the public."
Penny's GiveSendGo legal fund has raised more than $2.8 million.
Fox News' Rebecca Rosenberg and Marta Dhanis contributed to this report.
Penny has been charged in connection with the death of subway rider Jordan Neely. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)