A woman who was on the New York City subway when a homeless man was choked to death by a former Marine has criticized legislators for making racial remarks in response to the tragedy and hailed the former Marine as a “hero” for defending other witnesses.

The woman has lived in New York City for over fifty years, according to her statement to Fox News Digital. She also considers herself to be a person of color.

On May 2, she claimed she was preoccupied with reading a book when Jordan Neely, 30, began to threaten other subway passengers.

“I’m sitting on a train reading my book, and, all of a sudden, I hear someone spewing this rhetoric. He said, ‘I don’t care if I have to kill an F, I will. I’ll go to jail, I’ll take a bullet,’” she said.

She reported that terrified individuals crowded the exits in an attempt to flee Neely.

“I’m looking at where we are in the tube, in the sardine can, and I’m like, ‘OK, we’re in between stations. There’s nowhere we can go,’” she explained. “The people on that train, we were scared. We were scared for our lives.”

Daniel Penny reportedly intervened when Neely used the terms “bullet” and “kill” during his tirade.

“Why in the world would you take a bullet? Why? You don’t take a bullet because you’ve snatched something from somebody’s hand. You take a bullet for violence,” she said.

She explained that she remained to provide a statement to the police, and that she and at least three other passengers thanked Penny for his actions. She stated that she remained in order to submit a police statement.

“Mr. Penny cared for people. That’s what he did. That is his crime,” she added.

She subsequently stated that Penny was a hero.

“It was self-defense, and I believe in my heart that he saved a lot of people that day that could have gotten hurt,” she added.

The woman cited Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic Socialist Party representative for New York, as an example of a politician unjustly smearing Penny’s reputation.

“There was AOC saying that this gentleman was lynched. Why would she do that? She’s supposed to be for all people,” she said.

“This isn’t about race. This is about people of all colors who were very, very afraid and a man who stepped in to help them,” she added. “Race is being used to divide us.”

More on this story via The Republic Brief:

Penny was released from jail after posting a bond of $100,000 and is scheduled to appear in court in July. CONTINUE READING…