When New York City authorities charged Daniel Penny with second-degree manslaughter after placing fellow subway rider Jordan Neely in a deadly chokehold, his case quickly became a flashpoint in rightwing discourse on crime and vigilantism – and the broader culture war playing out in the US in advance of the 2024 election.
Penny, a white former Marine, soon raised more than $1m for his legal defense in the killing of Neely, an unhoused Black man. The sum now exceeds $2.5m.