ArcaMax

Is Daniel Penny a Republican, a Democrat or something else? As of this writing, his political leanings remain a mystery. Republicans clearly want to adopt the white Marine veteran who strangled a threatening Black passenger on a New York City subway car. They may deny it, but the racial dynamics created a desired optic for their warm support.

And the racial dynamics surely played a part in protests by Jordan Neely's supporters -- that this was a case of a white person killing a Black man who had already been subdued. After a jury dismissed manslaughter charges against Penny, they argued that had he been Black and the man kept in a long chokehold been white, the outcome would have been different.

They were wrong. We would have had a Black hero who protected a subway car of passengers from harm.

Had I been on the jury, I would have sided with the others and released Penny.

I've shared New York subway cars with hollering homeless men. The spectacle of these mentally ill individuals was always jarring, and I'd keep a watch out of the corner of my eye. At times, I considered changing cars.

But I'd never encountered a deranged passenger yelling "I'm ready to die" and "someone is going to die today" as Neely had done -- and who lunged and threw garbage at riders. I was never in a situation where several people on the car simultaneously dialed 911. Two passengers joined Penny in holding Neely down, and others held the car door open at a station to await arrival of the police.

It's true that Penny could have released his chokehold once Neely seemed subdued. It's also true that in the heat of the moment, Penny may not have realized that Neely was no longer a combatant. He says he didn't intend to kill Neely, and police confirm that when they reached him, Neely still had a pulse.

One thing was obvious to all: Neely had no business being on the streets. He had been arrested dozens of times. After breaking a woman's nose in a random attack, he was offered 15 months of supportive housing and intense outpatient psychiatric treatment. After 13 days, he left the program, but the city never went after him.

Donald Trump put Penny on display at the Army-Navy Football Game, having him join the retinue of his uniquely unqualified Cabinet picks. J.D. Vance wrote on X that "New York's mob district attorney tried to ruin his (Penny's) life for having a backbone."

I'm glad Alvin Bragg followed through on a second-degree manslaughter charge after the medical examiner declared the death to be a homicide. That gave a New York jury the opportunity to look at the facts and, in this case, clear the defendant's name.

It is notable that when past Manhattan juries ruled against Trump, MAGA accused New York of being a venue hopelessly biased against the ex-president. Penny's acquitters came from the same jury pool.

Penny's lawyer said his client was not making a political statement by joining Trump and company at the football game. "If it were a president in office who was a Democrat, who invited him to the Army-Navy game as a way to show support to the military and for his country," Steven Raiser said, "he would have gladly accepted that as well."

The subway confrontation underscores the failure to separate the dangerously mentally ill from the general public. Solving the problem requires social spending, which Trump World seems determined to cut.

A New Yorker, Penny may have felt more a quandary than a lust for vigilantism. He could serve his community well by being a Democrat and running for office.

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Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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