Ride the subways in New York long enough and you have your stories. I have plenty which I won’t bore you with. I will bore you with a story my daughter told me when she came home after her first solo trip on the subway in the summer of 2024. She was nervous, so on the platform she stood next to a pleasant looking family; a father his wif…
Ride the subways in New York long enough and you have your stories. I have plenty which I won’t bore you with. I will bore you with a story my daughter told me when she came home after her first solo trip on the subway in the summer of 2024. She was nervous, so on the platform she stood next to a pleasant looking family; a father his wife and their two toddlers. The dad was hovering over his kids to shield them from what could happen and what was happening. What was happening, was just typical MTA controlled chaos. What could happen, did happen. It came like a lightning bolt. The father could have been a black belt in Karate, a heavy weight boxer, a navy seal, it would not have mattered. A large man slid up to the father and broke his jaw with one huge unprovoked punch to the face. How did my daughter know it was a broken jaw? She heard the bones break and she saw the man crumble to the subway platform. OK, now my daughter has her subway story.
Perhaps the father should have been scanning a bigger circle so he would have had some warning of the approaching attack. This would have given him time to move his family out of harms way or block the punch or hit first in which case he might be on trial. A direct punch to the head can be lethal. The attacker in this case just hit and moved along and evaporated into the chaos on the NYC subway system to most likely attack someone else.
Daniel Penny was probably the person on the subway car who was least in danger from the violent behavior with which Jordan Neely was threatening the passengers on May 1st, 2023. After all Daniel Penny was a trained Marine with the rank of Sergeant. Mr. Penny could have retreated to a far corner of the subway car and prepared himself to fight off an attack. That would have been self-defense. He could have waited for Jordan Neely to attack someone and he could have even waited after that. Rather Daniel Penny acted in the defense of everyone on the subway car who was not a trained soldier. The case of the truly unfortunate and tragic death of Jordan Neely is not about self-defense it is about community defense.
Why would Daniel Penny take the initiative to subdue a man who was threatening the passengers with immediate real and dangerous physical harm. I would answer with a question which is; “how can people be surprised that Mr. Penny stepped in to protect his community of fellow riders?” From what I have learned from speaking with and reading the stories of Marines, Semper Fi is deeply and permanently ingrained in their souls. Semper Fi is not a slogan or a bumper sticker or a tee-shirt; it is a way of life for Marines. I would guess that in that time in the tunnel in the closed space of the subway car, Daniel Penny was acting like a Marine by not abandoning his fellow passengers to their fates, to dumb luck, to the hope that Jordan Neely would not smash someone in the side of the head so hard that they would suffer catastrophic injuries.
New York should have protected Jordan Neely from himself and the people of New York from Jordan Neely. New York failed on both accounts. It is unjust to make Daniel Penny pay for these failures.
Ride the subways in New York long enough and you have your stories. I have plenty which I won’t bore you with. I will bore you with a story my daughter told me when she came home after her first solo trip on the subway in the summer of 2024. She was nervous, so on the platform she stood next to a pleasant looking family; a father his wife and their two toddlers. The dad was hovering over his kids to shield them from what could happen and what was happening. What was happening, was just typical MTA controlled chaos. What could happen, did happen. It came like a lightning bolt. The father could have been a black belt in Karate, a heavy weight boxer, a navy seal, it would not have mattered. A large man slid up to the father and broke his jaw with one huge unprovoked punch to the face. How did my daughter know it was a broken jaw? She heard the bones break and she saw the man crumble to the subway platform. OK, now my daughter has her subway story.
Perhaps the father should have been scanning a bigger circle so he would have had some warning of the approaching attack. This would have given him time to move his family out of harms way or block the punch or hit first in which case he might be on trial. A direct punch to the head can be lethal. The attacker in this case just hit and moved along and evaporated into the chaos on the NYC subway system to most likely attack someone else.
Daniel Penny was probably the person on the subway car who was least in danger from the violent behavior with which Jordan Neely was threatening the passengers on May 1st, 2023. After all Daniel Penny was a trained Marine with the rank of Sergeant. Mr. Penny could have retreated to a far corner of the subway car and prepared himself to fight off an attack. That would have been self-defense. He could have waited for Jordan Neely to attack someone and he could have even waited after that. Rather Daniel Penny acted in the defense of everyone on the subway car who was not a trained soldier. The case of the truly unfortunate and tragic death of Jordan Neely is not about self-defense it is about community defense.
Why would Daniel Penny take the initiative to subdue a man who was threatening the passengers with immediate real and dangerous physical harm. I would answer with a question which is; “how can people be surprised that Mr. Penny stepped in to protect his community of fellow riders?” From what I have learned from speaking with and reading the stories of Marines, Semper Fi is deeply and permanently ingrained in their souls. Semper Fi is not a slogan or a bumper sticker or a tee-shirt; it is a way of life for Marines. I would guess that in that time in the tunnel in the closed space of the subway car, Daniel Penny was acting like a Marine by not abandoning his fellow passengers to their fates, to dumb luck, to the hope that Jordan Neely would not smash someone in the side of the head so hard that they would suffer catastrophic injuries.
New York should have protected Jordan Neely from himself and the people of New York from Jordan Neely. New York failed on both accounts. It is unjust to make Daniel Penny pay for these failures.
Well said.
Hear Hear.