Brad Barbarick

Daniel Penny is an American hero. His situation has been eating away at me and I have chosen to only talk about it in private until now. But I believe it is important that more people feel free to discuss these situations, so I may as well start with myself. The reason this situation is disturbing is because I could have been Daniel Penny. We both served in the military and deployed overseas. The military trains young men to stand up for what is right, especially when defenseless women and children are being directly threatened by a credible threat. If my wife and children were on that subway car alone, I pray that a young man like Daniel Penny would step in and protect them. I have paid close attention to Penny trial. The evidence is overwhelming that Daniel Penny did exactly what we should hope every young man in the country would do in that situation — he put himself in danger to protect women and children. After putting himself in danger and gaining control of the situation, every innocent citizen was able to safely escape the situation at the next train stop. The police arrived and Jordan Neely was still alive. But here is the insane part — the police did not administer first aid because they were scared for their own personal safety. They felt there was a risk of contracting HIV. Imagine a scenario where a young man is willing to put himself in danger to potentially save innocent bystanders' lives, but the police deem the situation so risky when they show up that they are unwilling to put themselves in the same danger. That is the definition of what a hero does. If we live in a society that tries to punish young men for doing the right thing—for protecting women and children that are in danger—then we will live in a society that is overrun by criminals. That is not the society we want to live in. The jury is currently deliberating the fate of Daniel Penny. They just told the judge that they are deadlocked and can not reach consensus. This means there is at least one courageous individual in that jury room that is refusing to go along with the charade. Whoever that individual is, may we hope they continue to stand strong in the face of immense pressure. Daniel Penny acted heroically on that subway train and now his freedom depends on a fellow citizen doing the same thing in that jury room. Hopefully we find out today there is more than one hero ready to stand up for what is right.