Over $1.4 million has been raised for the ex-Marine who is accused of choking homeless Jordan Neely to death on the subway in New York.
Neely, 30, died on May 1 after he was held in a chokehold for 15 minutes, allegedly by former Marine, 24-year-old Daniel Penny.
The shocking incident, which was filmed by an onlooker, took place in a subway car after Neely had begun shouting about being frustrated at not having anything to eat or drink, but had not attacked any other passengers.
The 30-year-old's death was ruled as a homicide, and it sparked outrage online as people demanded justice as no arrests were made at the scene.
As reported by The New York Post, Neely's mental health began to deteriorate after his mother was reportedly strangled to death and stuffed into a suitcase when he was 14 years old.
His aunt, Carolyn Neely, said that this caused the then 14-year-old to descend into a "complete mess", and that he didn't get the appropriate help for his mental health struggles.
Carolyn told the outlet: "My sister Christie was murdered in '07 and after that, he has never been the same [...] It had a big impact on him. He developed depression and it grew and became more serious. He was schizophrenic, PTSD. Doctors knew his condition and he needed to be treated for that. The whole system just failed him. He fell through the cracks of the system."
According to journalist Juan Alberto Vázquez, Neely was allegedly yelling on an F train in Manhattan before he was restrained by Penny.
The journalist claims that Neely was held in a chokehold for around 15 minutes, which subsequently caused him to lose consciousness before he was later pronounced dead.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office revealed that Penny was being charged with second-degree manslaughter. Penny then surrendered himself to New York City police officers at around 08:00 AM on Friday, May 12, CBS reported.
Following the arrest and subsequent bail being set at $100,000, a GiveSendGo page was set up to support Penny and it has received a staggering amount of donations.
At the time of writing, the page has raised over $1.4 million, with the site detailing that the money raised will "pay Mr. Penny’s legal fees incurred from any criminal charges filed and any future civil lawsuits that may arise, as well as expenses related to his defense."
It specifies that any money left over will be donated to a mental health advocacy program in New York City.
According to the New York Post, Marcia Mulcahy, who lived across the street from Penny and his family on Long Island described him as a "nice kid".
"Just look at the [fundraiser] to see how people feel about him," she concluded. "He was just trying to help on the subway. It was obviously a scary situation and it all went wrong. But he didn’t go in there trying to hurt anyone. He was trying to help."
