Witness in Daniel Penny trial learns the harsh truth that no good deed goes unpunished
As the Daniel Penny trial unfolds, witness after witness recounts the intense fear they experienced on the uptown F train when Jordan Neely, an unstable homeless man, entered the car, behaving aggressively towards passengers.
One teenage witness described feeling so terrified that she thought she might faint.
An elderly woman was extremely frightened, and a 29-year-old man admitted to being “pretty terrified.”
All the witnesses testified that they had never felt such acute panic while riding the train before.
However, one witness appeared visibly frightened in the courtroom on Tuesday, with protesters outside and supporters of Neely inside, fearing for his safety and the implications of a potential acquittal for Daniel Penny.
Eric Gonzalez, the man in the black cap seen in the footage restraining Neely during the incident, admitted to initially fabricating parts of his story out of fear for his own freedom.
Gonzalez testified that he stumbled upon the struggle between Neely and Penny at the Broadway-Lafayette subway station, assuming someone was trying to restrain Neely until the police arrived.
After learning about Neely’s death and Penny’s arrest, Gonzalez was scared of facing a murder charge and went into hiding out of fear for his safety.
Although Gonzalez initially lied about certain details, he was granted immunity to testify and admitted to fabricating parts of his story.
Despite concerns about his credibility, Gonzalez’s actions to assist Penny during the incident were captured on video and analyzed frame by frame.
Despite his agreement with the prosecutor, Gonzalez still feared the repercussions of his testimony potentially helping Penny go free.
Throughout his testimony, Gonzalez revealed a range of emotions, from fear to shame for his past deception.
In the end, it appeared that both Gonzalez and Penny acted instinctively to protect New Yorkers from the chaos and violence prevalent in the underground at the time.
Now, Penny faces nearly two decades behind bars, while Gonzalez seems hesitant to intervene again in similar situations.
The unfortunate lesson learned: Don’t get involved next time.
