Daniel Penny's acquittal is a victory for justice. He's a hero, not a criminal. | Opinion

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How thin is the line between hero and vigilante? It is razor thin, as the trial of Daniel Penny has shown.

Penny is a white, former Marine who put Jordan Neely, a Black man, in a six-minute choke hold in the New York subway in May 2023. Neely died after the incident, and prosecutors charged Penny with killing him.

On Monday, a jury acquitted Penny of criminally negligent homicide. A second-degree manslaughter charge against Penny was tossed out Friday after the jury couldn't reach a verdict.

Reports on the deadly incident seemed to divide Americans over racial issues: privileged white man versus homeless Black man.

But the Penny case also involved questions that have nothing to with skin color: What level of threat are we willing to live with? Is it morally right for a bystander to use force to stop a threat?

To me, Penny is a hero who intervened to protect people who couldn't protect themselves. The jury was right to acquit him, and the fact he was on trial at all is an outrage.

Subway passengers testified of being 'terrified'

Penny might never have thought he would use fighting skills he learned in the Marines in a dangerous, chaotic confrontation on the F train in Manhattan. But he did − and he faced up to 15 years in prison because of it.

After Neely screamed that he would kill someone, Penny placed him in a choke hold on the subway train's floor. Other passengers called law enforcement, who after arriving began to administer CPR. Neely later was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Penny, under questioning at a police station, said his intention was to subdue Neely, not hurt him. But soon after Neely's death, Penny was charged.

Cellphone video and body cam footage provide clear views of what happened that day. During the choke hold, Penny is neither vicious nor malicious. He is focused and steady, clearly attempting to subdue a threat. Two men aid him in calming Neely. Passengers later testified they were relieved that Penny had taken the initiative to protect them.

The prosecution didn't argue that Penny intentionally committed murder. They argued that the choke hold went “way too far,” violating “law and human decency.”

The medical examiner ruled Neely's cause of death was a direct result of the choke hold (the defense disputed that finding), and the prosecution tried to make the case that good intentions that turn out poorly have legal consequences.

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But the prosecutor's case looked weak throughout the trial. Despite substantial evidence, including video footage and eyewitness accounts showing that Penny acted heroically, prosecutors still brought the case against him.

Other passengers on the F train that day testified that they felt real fear due to Neely's erratic behavior. A witness said she remembered Neely yelling, "I don’t give a damn. I will kill a motherf-----. I’m ready to die.” She also said under oath that she “was scared s---less” by Neely's actions. And said she even thanked Penny for protecting her and other passengers afterward.

Another witness testified that he was "terrified" because of Neely's behavior, and a mother told jurors about trying to protect her child while Neely − previously arrested 42 times, including three arrests on charges of assaulting women on the subway − screamed threats.

Forensic pathologist Satish Chundru, a defense witness, testified that Penny’s choke hold didn't kill Neely, but that the cause of death could instead be attributed to “the combined effects of sickle-cell crisis, the schizophrenia, the struggle and restraint, and the synthetic marijuana.”

Fellow Marines testified that Penny, awarded the Humanitarian Service Medal, was a man of honor and duty.

The case against Penny never seemed that it was truly about upholding law and order. The New York Post Editorial Board bemoaned that "(District Attorney Alvin) Bragg’s decision to prosecute looks like pure politics."

Would you rather face a man or a bear?

As a single woman, I think about my safety daily. The Penny case highlights some difficult questions: What if the threat to my safety is vague but seems serious? What am I willing to do to protect myself or others from that threat?

In recent months an ongoing social media "debate" has questioned whether a woman, alone in the woods, would rather face a bear or a man. To the shock of men, women have resoundingly said they'd choose the bear. These women argue that men, not bears, have a reputation for everything from unwanted catcalling to rape and murder.

The man-or-bear debate, however, is based on a logical fallacy that demonizes men and lumps them all together as predators. The subway incident involving Neely and Penny shows that sometimes a good man is needed to protect women (and men and children) from danger.

Still, women must assess their risk-to-safety ratio every day while traveling, on a run in the neighborhood or going out alone to a store or school. Even the threat of violence at home is a gendered crime that endangers women far more often than men.

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Penny stepped forward to protect other passengers

When I first saw footage from the subway car, I felt sorrow for Neely, but also relief that men like Penny exist. I've been in dozens of scenarios where I have felt unsafe, and while my safety is my responsibility, I've also found myself at times looking for the nearest Daniel Penny.

Women would choose men over the bear every time if we knew for certain that more good men were willing and able to stop bad men. I'd want a man like Penny on my train, bus, plane or at a rest stop on a road trip any day.

Psychologist and author Jordan Peterson has said, "A harmless man is not a good man. A good man is a very, very dangerous man who has that under voluntary control." This sounds like Penny to me.

The world needs more Daniel Pennys, not fewer. He should be lauded as a hero.

Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with Paste BN. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.