Sunny Hostin Is ‘Ashamed That Someone in Our Armed Forces’ Became a Vigilante and Killed Jordan Neely: ‘Where Was The Humanity?’

Sunny Hostin took a hard line on The View Tuesday about the U.S. Marine who allegedly killed Jordan Neely with a chokehold on the New York subway.

“I’m ashamed that someone that was part of our armed forces decided to become a vigilante and kill him. That’s how I feel about it,” Hostin said in a strong rebuke of the “vigilante” title given to 24-year old Daniel Penny.

After Neely “threatened” passengers by screaming and acting erratically, Penny allegedly held the 30-year old homeless man in a chokehold  until Neely stopped breathing. The length of time for which the chokehold was applied is in dispute — with New York City Mayor Eric Adams saying the NYPD responded in 6 minutes, and other witnesses saying it lasted as long as 15 minutes.

“Let’s put this in context,” Hostin said earlier in the Hot Topics segment. “Yes, he was on the train. I ride the train. I’ve been riding the train in New York City since I was 12-years old. This is what he was doing: He was shouting that he was hungry, that he was thirsty and that he had little to live for. Hungry, thirsty, and little to live for,” Hostin emphasized.

“Where was the humanity of anyone who was on that train?” Hostin asked. “I would have given him money. I would have tried to give him food. I would have tried to help. This was someone in need. In desperate need.”

Both Alyssa Farah Griffin and Joy Behar agreed that a trained marine should have known better.

“And my understanding is, if you go past eight seconds of the chokehold, the person is dead,” Behar said. “Now, this marine should have known that. But maybe he made a mistake. Maybe he went too long and this poor kid died.”

“Two things can be true at once,” Griffin said, contending that people feel unsafe on the subway, but that the marine should not have held Neely for as long as he did.

“So, when you see somebody acting erratic, acting irrational, it is natural to fear they might have a weapon,” Griffin said. “You’re in a contained space. So, I don’t fault them for the first action but how far they took it — A marine with training should have known they can restrain him without killing him. It is a tragedy. You see his face, and it just breaks my heart, but we’ve got to do more to make people feel in their communities.”

In a statement, Penny’s attorneys said, “Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death.” The Manhattan medical examiner ruled Neely’s death a homicide, but no one has yet been charged.

Watch The View clip above.