Phil Mickelson took to X on Friday to praise Daniel Penny for defending his country as a Marine and intervening to restrain “deranged” homeless man Jordan Neely after he threatened passengers on a New York City subway.
The six-time Major winner captioned a post from conservative commentator Collin Rugg, who wrote a long post celebrating Penny as a hero for his actions. Mickelson agreed wholeheartedly with Rugg and doubled down on the praise.
“Agree,” Mickelson wrote. Thank you Daniel for serving your country and for protecting the many passengers whose lives were threatened by this violent and deranged individual.”
Agree. Thank you Daniel for serving your country and for protecting the many passengers whose lives were threatened by this violent and deranged individual. https://t.co/tUI5pe7pFV
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) December 6, 2024
Neely, a homeless 30-year-old, rushed onto a New York City subway car on May 1, 2023, telling passengers that someone would “die today” and that he didn’t care whether he spent the rest of his life in jail. Penny, 26, put Neely in a chokehold to end the threat, but the schizophrenic homeless man died later.
Penny had been facing second-degree murder charges, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years. But after a jury repeatedly deadlocked on that charge, Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Dafna Yoran asked for the second-degree murder charge to be dropped and for the jury instead to debate the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide.
According to court docs, Neely was high on K2, a synthetic marijuana drug known to function as a stimulant. Neely had a long history of criminal activity and at least one other assault incident in the subway in 2021 when he allegedly attacked a 67-year-old woman.
