Mike agrees with Geraldo Rivera & former Rep. Lee Zeldin’s takes on Daniel Penny’s coming trial after the chokehold death of Jordan Neely.
GALLAGHER: Here was Geraldo Rivera’s tweet. The choking death of Jordan Neely by 24 year old marine veteran Daniel Penny has divided the city and nation along racial lines. Donations are pouring into Penny’s legal defense fund, even as more modest but still substantial funds are going to a funeral fund for Mr. Neely. A deeply troubled homeless man. One of the so called top 50 most notorious violent subway vagrants. Like the Bernard Getts subway vigilante case that I covered back in the 80s, a jury will decide whether Penny was reasonably justified in using deadly physical force to subdue the troubled Neely. Remember the jury acquitted Bernie Getts, the so called subway vigilante of all charges, except one. Possession of an illegal weapon. Geraldo says that acquittal is a likely outcome in this case too. Neely’s death seems a tragic accident, not a reckless homicide. Now again, I am ashamed to admit it. I agree with Geraldo entirely. Now, let me give you another point of view. Here is Lee Zeldin, the former New York Congressman on Fox News.
ZELDIN: You have a bunch of people who are cowardly, really, in elected office who are fearful of the left. In the Democratic Party it’s resulted in pro-criminal laws getting passed like cashless bail. In New York, there are other laws like Raise the Age, it’s called, and Less is More, these other bills that put people back out on the streets after they commit crimes. And then you have individuals who need help, they need to have a bed and a roof over their head, and they are not getting access to that either. And then on top of it, Alvin Bragg comes in on day one as district attorney, he puts his day-one memo out, and he is saying one of many different crimes he’s going to refuse to prosecute — by the way, it’s fare jumping — they are creating this system down underneath. It’s bad enough on the streets where people don’t feel safe walking the streets of New York City, but down in the subways you have people being pushed in front of oncoming subway cars, they’re being confronted. And if you listen to the attorney speak, who is representing Jordan Neely’s family, he’s saying that the burden is on you, the subway Passenger, the rider, to confront this person and to resolve it yourself peacefully. So, we have flipped. Like you just pointed out, everything has been flipped, the whole script, and you have these elected officials who want to put the noose on that Passenger, that rider, that person who just wants to get from point A to point B safely. It’s all turned upside down. We should be out there fighting for the law-abiding New Yorker who wants to feel safe again on our streets and subways.