Like many Black Americans, and certainly Black New Yorkers, we knew what the verdict would be in the subway death of Jordan Neely once the judge removed the possibility of Daniel Penny being convicted of second-degree manslaughter. Doubtful, too, that he would be found guilty of criminally negligent homicide.
Over the last score of years we’ve witnessed Black men being killed without any recourse of justice, mainly by white police officers, and to have a citizen apprehend a mentally disturbed Black man, apply a fatal chokehold, even as he no longer was a threat — real or imagined.
Even as other passengers approached the situation, Penny refused to relinquish his chokehold. It was a horrible and gruesome reminder of what happened to Eric Garner and George Floyd. Police officers killed Garner and Floyd; Penny was acting as judge, jury, and executioner of Neely.
It’s hard to believe that there wasn’t a point when Penny realized Neely had been completely restrained, and no longer a dangerous threat. Equally reprehensibly, after being acquitted, there was no indication of remorse for what he had done; not a second of reaching out to Neely’s family and friends to offer some form of condolences.
The family may pursue some restitution for Neely’s loss of life, but something must be done to improve the system of injustice that transpired here and a better way of bringing relief and assistance to people walking around in need of treatment for ailments that too many construe as threats on their lives.
To be sure, it will happen again, and we will be as beleaguered and distressed as we are now about the quest for remedies. To some extent, we’ve curtailed the police atrocities; now we need to take some concrete measures to subdue vigilantism.