An Arizona congressman plans to award the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’s highest civilian honor, to Daniel Penny, a 26-year-old student currently on trial in New York on negligent homicide charges for choking a homeless man on a subway train in 2023.
"Daniel Penny’s actions exemplify what it means to stand against the grain to do right in a world that rewards moral cowardice," Rep. Eli Crane, Republican of Arizona, told Fox News.
"Our system of ‘justice’ is fiercely corrupt, allowing degenerates to steamroll our laws and our sense of security, while punishing the righteous,” Crane, a former Navy SEAL, added. “Mr. Penny bravely stood in the gap to defy this corrupt system and protect his fellow Americans. I’m immensely proud to introduce this resolution to award him with the Congressional Gold Medal to recognize his heroism."
Draft text of the resolution claims Penny "protected women and children of the city of New York, New York, from violence on May 1, 2023” and alleges that “throughout President Biden’s term as President, local governments across various cities and States failed to adequately protect residents and their property from violent criminals.”
Penny is facing a criminal trial in New York over the 2023 incident, in which he held street performer Jordan Neely, 30, in a chokehold for nearly six minutes, after the homeless man yelled threateningly at passengers on a Manhattan subway car.
Prosecutors allege Penny unnecessarily used lethal force that killed Neely, while the defense argues Penny’s actions were justified and outside factors could explain Neely’s death following the chokehold.
After jurors spent nearly a week in deliberation without reaching a verdict, prosecutors dismissed a more serious charge, second-degree manslaughter, on Friday.
Penny’s actions have proven strongly divisive.
Critics accused the Marine Corps veteran of being a vigilante who took things too far.
New York City public advocate Juamaane Williams previously told The Independent the public attention around the case had created a “narrative that devalues the life of a Black, homeless man with mental health challenges and encourages an attitude of dehumanization of New Yorkers in greatest need.”
Both conservatives and Democratic New York City mayor Eric Adams have praised Penny.
"We’re now on the subway where we’re hearing someone talking about hurting people, killing people," Adams said on a radio show in November. "You have someone [Penny] on that subway who was responding, doing what we should have done as a city."
Millions of dollars were raised for Penny’s legal defense through GiveSendGo, a crowdfunding platform popular for right-wing causes, and conservative media influencers and politicians hailed Penny as a veritable “Subway Superman,” an ordinary citizen taking back the streets in an unsafe, Democrat-led city.
