|
Listen to this article here
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The defense fund for accused Manhattan subway choker Daniel Penny surpassed $2 million on Monday — including a $5,000 contribution from the highly problematic Kid Rock.
The campaign on GiveSendGo brought in over $2.2 million by Monday evening, with other generous donations coming from political commentator Tim Pool, who chipped in $20,000, and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who donated $10,000, according to the site.
Penny sympathizers donate over $2 million while victim’s family claims merely $137K
In comparison, as of Tuesday morning, a GoFundMe set up by Jordan Neely’s family to help pay for funeral costs has raised a little more than $137,000.
“Mr. Penny is a hero,” Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, wrote on the site. “[Manhattan District Attorney] Alvin Bragg is a POS — Kid Rock.” Rock’s representation confirmed the donation.
Penny, 24, has reeled in donations from more than 47,000 supporters on the fundraising site as he prepares to fight a second-degree manslaughter charge in the May 1 death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old man with an alleged history of mental illness.
“The importance of this support has gone beyond the dollar amount raised and has come to symbolize a statement of support for the right and duty to stand up for each other when faced with an imminent threat,” Penny’s attorney, Steven M. Raiser, told The Post on Monday.
Speaking on Fox News later Monday, Raiser maintained that Penny “put his life at risk” by intervening when Neely began acting “violently.”
“The mindset is pretty simple: He was fearful for the safety of those passengers,” Raiser told host Jeanine Pirro. “So when he acted, his mindset was to keep his fellow passengers safe from attack.”
The lawyer denied that race was a factor in Daniel Penny grabbing Jordan Neely
“As to race, it’s simply not the motivation for Danny,” Raiser insisted. “He is the one who put himself in danger to save, who? All the people on that train. Black people, brown people, white people, it didn’t matter to Danny. Danny put his life at risk to save all those people.”
Penny, who surrendered last week, is free on $100,000 bail pending a return court appearance in July.
The former US Marine was seen on viral video grabbing Neely in a chokehold on an F train in Lower Manhattan.
In the footage, Penny eventually stops moving and is left lying on the floor of the train while Penny and others look on.
Fellow Marine condemns Penny’s action
The praise of Penny is “depressing,” said Gabriel Murphy, an engineer who was in the Marines from 2006-10 and who soon after Neely’s death began a petition calling for charges against Penny, saying he had misused the chokehold.
He said people have a picture of the military in their minds. “They’re cheering on that mental picture — that every Marine is a bloodthirsty killer who is waiting to enact righteous violence,” Murphy said in an interview.
But Marines are trained to use a chokehold on enemy combatants and to stop using such force once their adversary loses consciousness, he said. A four-minute video that recorded the chokehold showed Penny hanging on tight to Neely 50 seconds after he went limp.
“I don’t think what he did was OK, and I don’t think it’s in line with anything the Marine Corps teaches,” Murphy said.
Just a comment on your article about Daniel Penny’s legal defense fund. Your sub caption states: “Perry’s family claims merely $137K”. Who is the Perry family? Do you mean Neely? Thanks
He deserves every last Penny, no pun intended. He put a dangerous scumbag in the ground and you people are making it about race… how would you like it if Neely punched your 65 year old mother in the face and was walking freely on the streets and was threatening random innocent people minding their own business? Im going to go donate right now.