A Black Lives Matter leader who has been in the courtroom daily during the Daniel Penny subway trial called on ‘black vigilantes’ to step up after the Marine veteran was found not guilty on Monday.
Walter ‘Hawk’ Newsome, who says he is Jordan Neely’s uncle, threatened Penny inside the courtroom during the chaos which immediately followed the verdict.
He shouted ‘it’s a small f**king world, buddy.’Â
Then, speaking to media and later protesters outside the courthouse, Newsome said it was time for ‘black vigilantes.’
‘Everybody else has vigilantes. We need some black vigilantes,’ he said.Â
‘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.’
The comments came as protesters across the street set their sights on police, chanting ‘f**k the police’ and questioning why they weren’t patrolling the train to defend Neely.
Walter ‘Hawk’ Newsome, who says he is Jordan Neely’s uncle, threatened Penny inside the courtroom during the chaos which immediately followed the verdict
Speaking to media and later protesters outside the courthouse, Newsome said it was time for ‘black vigilantes.’
Penny was found not guilty of negligent homicide on Monday, after the state dismissed the top charge of manslaughter
The homeless, mentally ill black man had been threatening to kill people and telling commuters he was willing to ‘go back to Rikers’ when Penny, then just 24, intervened and took him to the ground.
He held Neely in a chokehold, alternating between applying pressure and not, in an effort to keep commuters safe until police arrived.Â
Protesters have stood outside the courtroom every day of the mammoth trial. It took two weeks to even select a jury, followed by four weeks of evidence, and then six days of deliberations.
Those protesters called Penny the ‘subway strangler’ and warned that there would be ‘no peace without justice’, which Penny’s lawyer argued was a direct threat to jurors.
Outside the courthouse on Monday, after calling for black vigilantes, Newsome told those same protesters he ‘loves them.’
He singled out several by name who have been there ‘every day, in the freezing cold’ shouting insults at Penny.
Newsome told the crowd that black people could no longer rely on authorities to keep them safe or place value on their lives.
The courtroom erupted after the not guilty verdict, as Penny was ushered out of the courtroom
Neely was a Michael Jackson impersonator who was known and recognized in Times Square (pictured in 2009)
Penny held Neely on the subway car floor while others assisted on May 1, 2023
‘We patrol our community,’ he said. ‘We keep us safe.’
‘America will never fix the issue of black people because America needs a punching bag. They have designated us as the punching bag.Â
‘So, f**k America. How dare you laugh and cheer when someone gets away with murdering us. I don’t want a march. I want a step.
‘Racists: burn in hell.’
