Daniel Penny’s lawyer ‘applauds’ DA’s decision not to charge Brooklyn subway shooter
The lawyer for Daniel Penny, the former Marine indicted in the Manhattan subway chokehold death of a disturbed rider, said Brooklyn prosecutors made the right call by not pursuing charges against the man who shot an aggressive straphanger on Thursday.
“I applaud the Brooklyn district attorney for exercising the prosecutorial discretion to realize that somebody who was forced to defend himself and others shouldn’t be subjected to a criminal indictment — I think that’s how it should play out,’’ Penny’s attorney Thomas Kenniff told The Post in a statement.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said Friday that there was “evidence of self-defense” when a 32-year-old man shot an agitator on a crowded rush-hour subway — and therefore wouldn’t be filing charges.
The shooter in Thursday’s subway clash was identified by sources as Younece Obuad, and Kenniff argued there are parallels between his case and that of Penny, who said he took down Jordan Neely to defend other passengers on the train.
“This is the same environment that confronted my client last year,” Kenniff said in the statement.
And in a Friday night interview on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Kenniff told the Fox News host that “it’s absolutely frustrating” that Penny was charged when Obuad was not, given the similarities of the situation.
He called on officials to end Penny’s prosecution.
Penny is charged with manslaughter in the caught-on-camera takedown of Neely, a homeless man with a history of mental illness who spiraled into an explosive rant on a Manhattan F train on May 1, 2023.
Neely had been threatening straphangers before Penny stepped behind him and pulled him into a chokehold that the city’s medical examiner says eventually killed Neely.
Penny is free on $100,000 bail, but faces up to 19 years behind bars if convicted. A judge rejected his motion to dismiss the charges in January.
Kenniff said Thursday’s shooting “is yet another example of the type of lawlessness that exists on the subways in New York City” that forced Penny into action nearly two years ago.
“It underscores the feeling that so many innocent New Yorkers have that if you’re riding the subway system, you are rendered defenseless,” the attorney told The Post. “Unfortunately in the case of my client, when you do step up to protect yourselves and others, you wind up being persecuted yourself.”
Obuad had gotten on the crowded A train when DaJuan Robinson, who was already aboard, began verbally attacking him, according to police and video of the moments leading up to the shooting.
The two got into a wrestling match, and at one point a woman stabbed Robinson in the back, video shows.
Robinson, who had brought a .380 Ruger and knife onto the train, pulled out his gun and began approaching Obuad.
Obuad was able to wrestle the gun away and at least four bullets were fired during the skirmish.
Robinson ended up being shot twice in the right side of his face —including through his eye — once in the neck and another time in the chest, as well as being stabbed twice in the back, sources said.
He remains hospitalized in critical condition, sources said.
