On Friday, the defense rested in the Daniel Penny trial, leaving many observers to ask what Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was thinking in pursuing this case.

Over the course of the second-degree manslaughter trial, Bragg’s prosecutors tried to sell the narrative that the Marine vet overreacted and behaved “recklessly” when he restrained Jordan Neely on that F train back in May 2023.

Daniel Penny arriving for his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on November 18, 2024. Getty Images

But a host of prosecution witnesses, Penny’s fellow passengers, knocked massive holes in that tale, as one after another veteran subway rider described how terror-stricken they felt while trapped in the train car with the angry, unstable, threatening Neely.

One woman said she “was scared s–tless” by Neely’s behavior and recalled him yelling: “I don’t give a damn. I will kill a motherf—er. I’m ready to die.”

She stuck around after the ordeal to thank Penny for defending her and everyone else in the car that day.

Poster Comment:

Neely was breathing long after Penny gave up his hold on him. So why were charges filed?