Ron DeSantis praises Daniel Penny, the man who hanged Jordan Neely in the New York subway

In a Friday night tweet, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis praised a man charged with manslaughter for fatally suffocating Jordan Neely, a homeless subway rider, in New York earlier this month.

“We must defeat the Soros-funded district attorneys, stop the pro-criminal agenda of the left, and reclaim the streets for law-abiding citizens,” DeSantis said. wrote. “We support good Samaritans like Daniel Penny. Let’s show this Marine… America’s got his back.”

Penny, a 24-year-old former US Marine, was charged with second-degree manslaughter on Friday.

He has yet to enter a guilty plea regarding the charges.

On May 1, a man identified as Mr. Penny placed the 30-year-old former homeless street performer in a fatal chokehold for several minutes until he died on the floor of an F train on the Broadway-Lafayette platform in Manhattan. The city medical examiner determined Neely’s cause of death to be homicide.

The killing has been widely criticized by local officials and protesters in New York, who argue that Neely’s death perpetuates a narrative in which black people living in poverty face dismissal or deadly violence.

“The death of Jordan Neely was a homicide, and charges must be filed immediately against his killer,” the city’s elected public defender Jumaane Williams said in a statement shared with The independent.

“To say anything else is misleading that will only further a narrative that devalues ​​the life of a homeless black man with mental health issues and encourages an attitude of dehumanizing New Yorkers most in need.”

Elected leaders and media coverage have created an environment “that encourages fear and violence against people in struggle, portraying them as a threat to public safety,” he added. “But being homeless is not a capital crime. Struggling with mental health is not a capital crime. Being black is not a capital crime.”

Alex Woodward contributed reporting to this story.