Charges against a New York City subway rider who stabbed and killed another passenger who allegedly struck his girlfriend in the face have been dropped. The obvious comparison to the Daniel Penny case is not lost on many observers.
According to the New York Post, 20-year-old Jordan Williams and his girlfriend were on the Brooklyn J train on June 13 when 36-year-old Devictor Ouedraogo started threatening passengers.
Witnesses said the suspect declared he was “going to erase someone.”
Charges of criminal possession of a weapon with intent to use and felony manslaughter were dismissed by the grand jury. This came after they saw a video of what transpired before the fatal stabbing.
The evidence revealed a shirtless Ouedraogo leaning over a seated female passenger and touching her wrists. When she protested, he began moving his hips toward her and said, “You understand what I’m saying to you.”
The footage showed the confrontation continuing until Williams and a friend engage in a fight with Oedraogo. At one point the boyfriend is pinned against a wall, but then the video showed the attacker stepping back with blood on his stomach.
Jordan Williams was 100% justified when he killed a man on the Subway who threatened his girlfriend and others
But the difference in coverage between his story and Daniel Penny’s is outrageous
Listen to this interview and imagine if the media did this with Penny pic.twitter.com/BW4LYl0zNQ
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 23, 2023
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office told ABC News that they had completed “an impartial and thorough investigation of the fatal encounter.” They also viewed several videos and interviewed numerous witnesses before presenting the evidence to the grand jury.
In May, homeless passenger Jordan Neely was accosting and threatening other riders when he was subdued by fellow passenger and former U.S. Marine Daniel Penny. Neely was held in a chokehold to protect bystanders and died shortly after.
Penny was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter after he surrendered to police.
Shortly after the arrest of Jordan Williams for the stabbing of Ouedraogo, his mother compared her son to Penny and began an online fundraiser for his defense. At that time, April Williams said that her son’s situation “resembles that of Daniel Penny.”
She said her son should not be penalized because he cannot afford bail after taking a “justified” action. Now he is a free man and free of all charges.
The same justice system should take a closer look at Penny’s case as well.
