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.