A fundraiser put online to support a former Marine accused of strangling a homeless man in the New York subway, met with great success Sunday with more than $ 1.6 million raised on a site popular with the hard right. More than 36,000 people had responded by midday to the appeal for donations launched by the law firm Raiser & Kenniff, which defends Daniel Penny.



This 24-year-old white man, retired from the army, was charged Friday with "manslaughter" by the justice of New York and released on $ 100,000 bail. He is accused of causing, on May 1, the death by "compression" of the neck of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old black homeless man, known for his resemblance and imitations of singer Michael Jackson.

Call for donations

A video of the tragedy, which triggered a strong emotion, shows the victim on the ground for five minutes, Daniel Penny lying behind to hinder him. She struggles before she doesn't move. The lawyers of the former soldier assure in their appeal for donations that he "risked his life in order to protect the passengers of the subway of New York from an aggressor". A witness told AFP that Jordan Neely did burst into the car shouting at passengers, but he apparently did not physically assault anyone.

The call for donations was launched on the platform "GiveSendGo", which defines itself as "the first crowdfunding site for free Christians", and is known for having agreed to raise funds for far-right personalities banned from other sites. It was relayed by the very conservative governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, who has presidential ambitions. "We stand with good Samaritans like Daniel Penny, let's show this Marine that America is behind him!" he tweeted.

A case that divides the country

The case strongly divides the country: the right, which accuses the Democrats of laxity in the face of crime, congratulates Daniel Perry for having set himself up as a "vigilante" who acted in "self-defense". The left regrets an act of violence against a mentally ill man that it says reflects the city's deep socio-economic and racial inequalities.


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