We’ll never know if a grand jury would’ve indicted Daniel Penny in the death of Jordan Neely, because Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg decided to skip that step — clearly because a horde of lefty politicians and raging protesters demanded it.
As Bob McManus notes, it also fits this Manhattan district attorney’s pattern of targeting New Yorkers who choose to defend themselves and others against violence.
We have our doubts that a grand jury of subway riders would’ve gone along.
And any trial jury should get to hear testimony like that of the 66-year-old woman who witnessed the incident and says she’s “praying” for Perry.
She can testify to the danger Neely posed.
As she told The Post, “He said, ‘I don’t care. I’ll take a bullet, I’ll go to jail’ because he would kill people on the train.” More: “He said, ‘I would kill a motherf—er. I don’t care. I’ll take a bullet. I’ll go to jail.’”
No, Penny and the others who acted to restrain Neely didn’t know that the vagrant had a long arrest record and was wanted on assault charges.
But they sure saw the signs of dangerous mental illness.
And they likely knew, as would any jurors (grand or petit), that other mentally ill vagrants have caused the deaths of innocent New Yorkers like Michelle Go, Yadira Arroyo and Alison Russo-Elling.
As well as the four homeless men bludgeoned to death while sleeping in Chinatown’s Skid Row in 2019.
Bragg decided not to risk submitting his case to a such a grand jury.
In their place, he accepted the unconsidered judgment of progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, City Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
All of whom also lecture New Yorkers that the rising crime we face is just a matter of perception and exaggeration.
When a lunatic raves threateningly on a subway car, insist our supposed betters (who mainly travel with security!), it’s our duty to just sit there and take it.
Kudos to Mayor Eric Adams for drawing the right lesson from this tragedy: It’s long past time for the Legislature to expand the use of involuntary psychiatric commitment for people like Neely.
All the loudmouths braying for Penny’s head don’t give a damn about restoring public safety in New York City.
And by jumping to work their will, Bragg again proved his loyalty to Team Crime.