Former N.Y. Democrat Governor: Penny Is Innocent

Former New York Democrat Gov. David Paterson said a former Marine should not be charged in the subway chokehold death of a homeless man.

Daniel Penny, 24, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, put Jordan Neely, 30, in a chokehold while they rode on the F train in Manhattan on May 1. Neely, who had been accosting riders, died from a compression of the neck, a medical examiner said.

Penny turned himself in to authorities Friday on a manslaughter charge that could send him to prison for 15 years.

Paterson, during an appearance Sunday with John Catsimatidis on the “Cats Roundtable” on WABC, said Penny did not commit a crime and should not have been charged.

Paterson said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Penny because of a history of minorities getting killed in controversial circumstances.

“[Penny] did something because he saw danger for other people and tried to prevent it,” Paterson, New York’s first African-American governor, told Catsimatidis. “He did not meet the threshold where you charge someone.”

Paterson, saying that Neely had a history of mental illness, called the death a “tragedy.” However, Paterson said it shouldn’t be seen as “an execution.”

“[Penny] put him in a chokehold. He didn’t, apparently, do it in the right way … Because of that [Neely] … was struggling. Two of the passengers helped, and in the process of trying to restrain him, he lost his life, which is a terrible tragedy,” Paterson said.

“But trying to assess this as an execution, or as if it was done by the police rather than a private citizen, is going way beyond what is reasonable under these circumstances.”

Protesters in New York have said Penny is a murderer and called for his arrest.

Penny’s friends and family expressed outrage at the charges brought by Bragg.

“It’s disgusting,” cousin Justine Baldwin told the New York Post, calling Penny a “handsome, fun kid who could always be counted on when you needed help” and “a young man who served our country.”

A GiveSendGo crowdfunding campaign had raised nearly $2 million for a legal defense fund as of Monday morning.