The editors of the Wall Street Journal remark on a story I touched on yesterday:
Every subway rider in New York City knows the experience. You get on a train, and a passenger nearby is shouting to himself or at others. He may ask for money or harass a passenger. You move away as far as you can, perhaps wondering if you should intervene to calm him down or stop the harassment. Should you take the risk? Most of us walk away and get on another subway car.
What they describe “most of us” is doing is the right course of action. They go on to praise the man who killed Jordan Neely as a “samaritan”:
Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran, took that risk on May 1 and intervened to subdue Jordan Neely, a homeless man who was acting erratically, shouting and claiming he had little to live for. Mr. Penny subdued Neely, put him in a chokehold, and Neely died. On Friday the Manhattan district attorney charged Mr. Penny with second-degree manslaughter for which he could serve up to 15 years in prison.
At this point and with respect to whatever transpired in that subway car, the justice system is working as it should. If the case goes to trial a jury will decide whether Mr. Penny was justified, if he went too far, and, if found guilty, what the punishment should be. They will consider his state of mind and the outcome. Mr. Penny may be acquitted, he may be convicted of a lesser offense, or he may be found guilty.
However, we shouldn’t lose track of the fact that the city failed Mr. Neely. The editors touch on that:
Neely’s death is a tragedy, but the charges against Mr. Penny raise troubling questions about the decline of public order and the way the mentally ill have been left to fend for themselves on our streets and public spaces.
I don’t think they’re pointed enough. Mr. Neely should never have been in that subway car. He had already been determined to have been a danger to himself or others. To my mind that means that treatment for his mental condition should have been mandatory and compulsory and he shouldn’t have been roaming loose. The inability of the subway system to function both as a transportation system and a means of housing the homeless is a completely separate topic.
Whatever a jury decides about Mr. Penny’s actions, that shouldn’t let city authorities off the hook.
At this point and with respect to whatever transpired in that subway car, the justice system is working as it should. If the case goes to trial a jury will decide whether Mr. Penny was justified, if he went too far, and, if found guilty, what the punishment should be
People have increasingly lost faith in the justice system’s ability to render fair and non-prejudicial justice by judges or juries of their peers. Too often now, verdicts are influenced by a district’s political make-up, or the tendency to judge a defendant’s innocence or guilt by their gender or race.
Mr. Neely should never have been in that subway car. He had already been determined to have been a danger to himself or others.
I agree. However, while mental health issues are given lip service it’s the more eye-catching wedge issues that command most of the attention. —-
Gun control, climate change, abortion. Even the prolific distribution of fentanyl, it’s trafficking over an open border, causing addiction death and mental disturbances seems to solicit only a backseat type of concern.
An example of our justice system’s double standard:
On one hand we have a by-stander being charged with 2nd degree manslaughter, when he intervened in restraining a man acting erratically and threatening others on a subway.
Back in 2021 a young air force veteran (white) was mortally shot in the neck as she crawled through a broken doorway (a misdemeanor), unarmed and non-threatening, by a Capitol police officer (black), who never identified himself and was hidden in a corner before he jumped out and killed her. This man also had a history of carelessly handling his weapon. Nonetheless, he was not only not charged with anything, but was exonerated, praised and treated like a hero.
Two lives ended – one a man menacing others, the other a woman engaged in a protest – resulting in very different outcomes for the people who killed them. IMO, that’s not equal Justice.
Our cities are Third World cities. This is the sort of nonsense one expects in Port-au-Prince.
The social and economic decay of this country is very far advanced. We will be very lucky to descend no lower than Mexico.
Of course, half the House of Representative wants to invade Mexico, just because we can.