The Saga of Daniel Penny

One man took a stand for others. Then witnesses rallied to his defense as prosecutors tried to bury him.

Ivette Rosario pressed her head into her friend’s chest and closed her eyes. The high schooler had witnessed creeps aboard the uptown F train, but this was different. This unhinged man with soiled sweatpants seemed dangerous in a way she had not known before. “‘I don’t care if I die. Kill me, lock me up,’” he shouted as he paced and lunged around the railcar. Terror gripped the girl.

Then she heard a thud. Straphanger Daniel Penny had taken the crazed man, Jordan Neely, to the ground in a chokehold. Neely would not get up again, and Penny’s life would never be the same.

Rosario retold this story in Manhattan Supreme Court, where Penny has been on trial for Neely’s death. To say that prosecutors want to hang, draw, and quarter Penny, who is white, for the demise of Neely, who was black, would be an understatement. Indeed, even as new questions are raised about the true cause of death, the city medical examiner who ruled it a homicide said she wouldn’t change her mind even if it came to light Neely had enough narcotics in his system “to put down an elephant.” That’s hardly impartial.

But as the trial draws to a close, Penny’s adversaries appear to have a big problem on their hands: one witness after another testified that Neely was terrifyingly deranged and that Penny protected others from potentially serious harm.

In a 911 call played during the trial, Rosario’s teenage friend, Moriela Sanchez, said Neely was “trying to attack everybody.” She softly wept as she relived the fear she felt that day as he menaced and ranted along the train. Another witness named Caedryn Schrunk described his ravings as “Satanic.”