As the jury in the Daniel Penny case began their deliberations Tuesday in the second-degree manslaughter trial of the 26-year-old former Marine, a Saturday radio appearance by NYC’s Democrat Mayor Eric Adams is getting plenty of notice—because Hizzoner appeared to voice his direct support of the defendant.
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It was a failure of the system, Adams said, and Penny did “what we should have done as a city”:
“We’re now on the subway where we’re hearing someone talking about hurting people, killing people,” Adams said on the Nov. 30 episode of “The Rob Astorino Show.” “You have someone [Penny] on that subway who was responding, doing what we should have done as a city.”
“Those passengers were afraid,” the mayor added.
TRAGEDY: Daniel Penny Case Shows the Utter Failure of Progressivism (VIP)
As we’ve reported, Penny said he was protecting passengers when a lunatic burst into the train and started wreaking havoc:
Imagine this: New Yorkers are riding the subway when a deranged man barges into the car and starts screaming that he’s going to kill people. He looks crazed, clearly on drugs—lots of them.
If you were riding that train, you might have thought you were about to die a violent death, and some of the passengers thought exactly that . A mother with her young son hid behind a stroller. A high school student prayed as the man yelled, “Someone is going to die today!” and lunged at commuters.
Enter a strapping Marine vet to take the psycho down. Which he does efficiently, effectively. He holds him until police (eventually) arrive, and keeps the other passengers out of danger. When he lets go of the assailant, the guy is still breathing.
His name is Daniel Penny and he’s an American hero, right?
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The attacker, Jordan Neely, later died. To woke Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, that shows Penny was no hero—so he promptly charged him, and now he faces up to 15 years in prison.
Adams seems to have a different view than Bragg and said he hoped jurors came to the just conclusion:
Adams went on to say that he hoped jurors would “hear all the facts” as they consider whether the 26-year-old former Marine was justified in restraining 30-year-old Neely — who had a history of mental illness and drug abuse — following his outburst on the crowded F train train in May last year.
“Based on all the facts that’s laid out, a jury of his peers will make the right decision. I don’t want to prejudge that,” Adams said of whether Penny should be found guilty of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
“That could have easily been a case where you saw three innocent people murdered on our street two weeks ago,” he added, referring to a recent deadly stabbing spree in Manhattan on Nov 18.
“We have to recognize we have a mental health crisis, and we’re not doing enough to solve it.”
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Related: A Tale of Two Subway Trains (VIP)
New York City Homeless Man Goes on Stabbing Spree – Two Reported Dead (later updated to three dead)
Adams is right. We can only hope the jury sees it the same way and sees through this deplorable prosecution. If Penny is found guilty, it will show yet again how our system of justice is being destroyed brick by brick by progressive ideology.