In this Yuletide season there is the true “reason for the season” born in a manger and come to bring salvation for all, and then there are the things of this world for which we are truly thankful. They don’t come “in boxes, or packages or bags,” according to the Grinch. On this Christmas, the best gift our country could receive is a Penny from heaven.
In May 2023, a crazed and dangerous Jordan Neely entered a New York subway car and immediately threatened its riders by telling them he was “willing to go to jail for the rest of his life” if they didn’t surrender to his demands. On board that subway train was a cross section of New Yorkers including citizens of every color, children, even a mother and her baby. Included amongst this group of terrified commuters was Daniel Penny, a former marine and architectural student.
Put yourself in Penny’s position, what would you do? A madman high on K2, a highly potent form of marijuana, stands menacingly before you yelling, he’s going to do something violent and that he has no fear of the law or imprisonment. In this small metal tube there is no chance of escape and so you must decide, do I intervene, or do I let this maniac fulfill his threats, hoping I’m not the victim?
You might reason that here in New York the mentally unstable and homeless make up a sizeable portion of subway commuters every day. Despite the incidents of violence committed by them on a nearly daily basis you hope he is just blowing off steam, that he probably won’t actually hurt anyone.
Could anyone of us in good conscience who is possessed of physical vigor and capability ignore this threat? Would we sit idly by while a child, a mother, or even a baby is assaulted?
I’m not sure what you would do, but we know what Penny did. He stepped in and in so doing prevented a greater tragedy from occurring.
While providing a statement to NYC detectives after the incident, during which they deprived him of the knowledge of Neely’s death, Penny is forthright, candid, and honest. In a bewildering turn, Penny is told that the District Attorney has decided he should be released without charges. To this point Penny considered himself merely a witness to a subway disturbance, but clearly, he is seen by NYPD and the DA’s office as suspect in a murder.
Ten days later that same DA obtains a Grand Jury indictment of Penny, and he finds himself more than a year later facing charges that could result in fifteen years behind bars.
The prosecutor sought to find convict the good Samaritan, courage in the face of danger and defending the defenseless. He wanted to punish Penny for doing what his liberal bail policies, lenient sentencing and selective prosecution bias had failed to do, stopping Jordan Neely from hurting anyone.
Jordan Neely’s death is a tragedy. A tragedy precisely because it was preventable. With forty-two felony convictions Neely should have been in jail, or in treatment, not on the streets of New York. Neely’s death indicts a failed system that tilts in favor of the accused at the expense of the victims. A system that protected Neely from the consequences of his actions and in so doing allowed him to sink further into addiction and mental illness.
On December 9th, 2024, a Manhattan jury did what so many “experts” said was impossible. Amid the chaos of protestors hurling the same tired lies of racism and inequality, this jury did the unthinkable. They found Daniel Penny not guilty.
This Christmas we’ve been gifted a return to normalcy. We’ve been given back the belief in heroism, in courage and in the idea that we do have a duty to protect one another.
This Holy season we enjoy a step toward a more civil society because of a Penny from heaven.
