Letters to the Editor — May 23, 2023

The Issue: Daniel Penny’s first interview after putting Jordan Neely into a hold that resulted in his death.

We should certainly feel sympathy for Jordan Neely because his mental illness followed his mother’s brutal murder, and he wasn’t in control of his erratic behavior (“ ‘Nothing about race,’ ” May 21).

But, when he reportedly shouted that he would “kill a motherf - - - er,” it became obvious that he was an imminent danger to the passengers on that train.

Of course, the tragic death of Neely could have been avoided if there were more police officers. It is the “defund the police” demagogues who have deliberately made this city more unsafe.

If any of them really want to find out who is truly responsible for Neely’s tragic death, the only thing they have to do is look in the nearest mirror.

John Francis Fox

Sunnyside

For sure, Penny meant well — but he went too far and has to answer for killing the man when it was clear the man no longer posed a threat.

For this, Penny must serve time. Once he killed the man, the evaluation of the situation radially changed. His actions made him a vigilante at that point.

Len Silver

Brooklyn

Jordan Neely had a history of public disturbance and mental-health problems. He was acting irrationally on a New York City subway, angry and aggressive. He seemed to be at the end of his rope, in need of money for food and even said he didn’t care if he went to jail.

Riders felt understandably threatened, and he was subdued by Penny, who held him in a chokehold.

Why did no one offer him a few dollars, which would not have been missed by the average person?

If a few people did that, it might have saved the day. I have found homeless people grateful for a little generosity. The homeless live lives of empty desperation, yet many people commonly walk by them as though they are not there. They are trying to get through the day.

Manny Martin

Manhattan

Some — who have never been in a situation like the one this ex-Marine faced — have criticized him for maintaining the hold on the victim’s neck.

How is he supposed to let him go, not knowing if the victim had a knife in his pocket and might come at him to stab him to death?

You don’t have to wait until some innocent person is stabbed or killed to spring into action. The victim made threats and was acting in a belligerent manner. Daniel Penny is a total hero.

Saul Mishaan

Brooklyn

Penny is deemed innocent until proven guilty, and neither race nor color appear to have had anything to do with what occurred on that train, but Al Sharpton’s “eulogy” at Neely’s funeral unquestionably turned the matter into a black/white situation (“Revving up the race machine,” Bob McManus, May 20).

Sharpton, who appears to have become more balanced over the decades, still has not apologized for the Tawana Brawley debacle, which was an out-and-out fraud, and therefore his credibility is still suspect — at least to me.

In addition, I’m not so sure he ever rides the subway. I do, often. And I’ve been on trains where everyone in the car is very apprehensive about what the raving lunatic screaming in the middle of the car is going to do next.

Lou Maione

Manhattan

Marine Corps veteran Daniel Penny had every right to prevent Jordan Neely from harming other subway passengers.

Some disagree with Penny’s action because Neely, they say, was mentally ill. This has no relevance to the issue.

People who push subway passengers onto the tracks are generally mentally ill. What does this mean? That we should take no action to prevent such tragedies?

If Neely had been allowed to harm other passengers, the outcry by the public would have been: “Others just stood by and did nothing?” The mentality of not intervening until there’s a serious tragedy is counterproductive.

Josh Greenberger

Brooklyn

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