Following Marine Corps veteran Daniel Penny’s acquittal on Monday in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man with mental health issues, Black Lives Matter activists and other liberal activists engaged in protests in New York City. The protests led social media users to describe the incident as “George Floyd 2.0.”
On Monday, a Manhattan jury unanimously declared Penny not guilty of criminally negligent homicide. The second-degree manslaughter charge against the Marine Corps veteran was dismissed last Friday by Judge Maxwell Wiley amid the jury’s deadlock regarding a unanimous verdict.
The jury’s decision to declare Penny not guilty of murdering Neely quickly led to outrage from Black Lives Matter activists. The Times of India reported that one Black Lives Matter supporter yelled, “Racist f-cking country,” as she left the courtroom on Monday, while another activist threatened Penny by shouting, “It’s a small world, buddy.”
READ MORE: Jury in Daniel Penny subway chokehold case reaches verdict
Following the jury’s decision on Monday, Hawk Newsome, co-founder of New York Black Lives Matter, told reporters, “We need some Black vigilantes. People want to jump up and choke us and kill us for being loud? How about we do the same when they attempt to oppress us?”
A video shared on X, formerly Twitter, by The New York Post shows protests forming outside the New York City courthouse on Monday. In the video, police officers can be seen trying to calm the protesters down.
In another video, protesters can be heard repeatedly chanting, “If we don’t get no justice, then they don’t get no peace.” The protesters also shouted comments against President-elect Donald Trump and repeatedly clashed with law enforcement officials. The video also shows some of the protesters being arrested by police officers.
In a caption to the video, social media user Silent Silas wrote, “No shock here, protesters cuffed outside NYC courthouse after Daniel Penny’s acquittal. Buckle up, it’s about to get messy – George Floyd 2.0 incoming.”
In addition to the protests in New York City, left-wing activists shared their outrage toward the jury’s decision in posts on social media.
“Imagine, just imagine, if Jordan Neely had been White and Daniel Penny was Black,” Mehdi Hasan, a former MSNBC anchor, wrote. Imagine what some of the folks defending Penny today would be saying. Just imagine.”
“Jordan Neely deserved better than the violence of being denied access to stable housing and health care, and then dehumanized for it,” Tiffany Cabán, a member of the New York City Council District 22 in Queens, stated. “Jordan Neely deserved better than the systems that allow for, and justify, extrajudicial white supremacist violence against Black people.”
