NYC NOW - Midday News: Daniel Penny Acquitted in Subway Chokehold Case, Police Question Man in Shooting Death of UnitedHealthcare CEO, and Helping NYC’s Homeless

Episode Date: December 9, 2024

A Manhattan jury has acquitted former Marine Daniel Penny in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on an F train last year. Meanwhile, police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, are questioning a man in connection to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Finally, David Giffen, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, shares how New Yorkers can help those living on the streets during the winter months.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Monday, December 9th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. A former Marine accused of fatally choking a man on an uptown F train last year is not guilty of criminal charges. A Manhattan jury acquitted him this morning. Daniel Penny had been on trial since late October.

Prosecutor accused him of killing fellow subway rider Jordan, when he held nearly in a chokehold for about six minutes. Defense attorneys said Penny was trying to protect himself and fellow passengers after Neely started yelling threats. They had also argued that Penny's actions may not have directly caused Neely's death. Much more to come on this. We're out today right here on WNYC. A man with a gun thought to be similar to the one used in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson

was taken into police custody this morning for questioning, Pennsylvania. This is according to a law enforcement official who spoke to the Associated Press. The man is being held in the area of Altoona, Pennsylvania. That's about 233 miles west of New York City. The official was unauthorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The development comes as dogs and divers return today to New York Central Park, while the dragnet for Thompson's killer stretched into a six-day Investigators have been calming the park since the Wednesday shooting and have been searching at least one of its ponds for three days looking for evidence that may have been thrown away. 51 with light rain now. Rain this afternoon, a high near 51. A chance of rain by 10 this morning, patchy fog overnight, a low of 44.

Stay close. There's more after the break. This time of year presents unique challenges for people who don't have a place to live. the temperatures drop and the need for shelter skyrockets. But for those who see people living on the streets and want to help, the best way to do so is not always clear, especially if the situation feels urgent, unpredictable, or dangerous. David Giffin is the executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless. He joins us now to talk about what to do. Mr. Giffin, what does Coalition for the Homeless recommend we do when we want to help people we see who are unhoused this time of year?

Thank you, Michael. That's a great question. And what many people need is just information about where they can get help, because there is lots of different types of help that an individual might need. The first thing I would recommend is to give them the phone number of the coalition's crisis hotline. Our crisis services help about 10,000 people a year. So you can go to our website to find that. It's 888-358-2,000. You know, we also have a printable PDF that has all kinds of resources for people experiencing homelessness, everything from where they can get food, clothing. So you can go to our website and print that out. And in fact, we have a whole page called How to Help that has a list under what should I do if, that presents you with all kinds of different scenarios you might come across and then gives you advice about what to do in that situation. How is the crisis hotline? How would that be different than a 3-1-1 call?

Well, when you call 3-1-1, generally what happens is the city will deploy law enforcement, sending uniformed police officers to involuntarily remove somebody from the subway system, which is the city's preferred method now, really doesn't give people the help that they need. Look, if you see somebody who is decompensating, who is apparently presenting a danger to them, or to others, and obviously, you know, call 311 or 911 in that situation. But what we need to see happening more often is trained mental health professionals being deployed who know how to de-escalate situations and who can offer people the help they need. Mr. Giffin, let's say we're walking by a person who is unhoused and the person is on the street.

We want to do something in that very moment. No donating to an organization at that moment, but what, what, do we do? Look, if you feel comfortable giving somebody food, clothing money, please do so. You know, if you see a human being that's suffering and in need, it's very hard to walk by and not want to do something directly. You know, I have kids and my nine-year-old just, it's impossible for her to walk by somebody on the street and not demand to stop and try to talk to them and try to give them money. I wish we all, you know, stayed in touch with our inner child in that way because we all do have that desire to help somebody in trouble, I would, you know, if you feel uncomfortable or if it

feels like a situation that might present some physical danger, which is, by the way, extremely rare, then don't do so. Another situation, what do you recommend if someone is experiencing medical distress? Let's say someone looks like they may be hypothermic, while some folks may call the police in that instance. Others may be reluctant to do so, maybe because of their own experience. with law enforcement. What do you recommend? If somebody is in imminent danger, call 911. Don't hesitate. You know, they're going to need medical help in that situation. So that is absolutely the advice.

If you see somebody who looks like they're in trouble and in imminent physical danger, then definitely call 911 in that situation. Can you think of a place or two or three where they're getting it right or close to right in terms of dealing with the issue of the unhoused on the street? Yeah, you know, unfortunately we have to get in an airplane and fly to Helsinki would be one place. Helsinki as a city fully adopted the housing first model to address homelessness in that city. The housing first model means that you approach somebody who's without a home and you say, here's an apartment and you just put them in the apartment. and it's not contingent upon participation in any kind of program.

Once they're housed, then you offer them the help that they need. The Housing First model is very successful. Helsinki used it to effectively eliminate homelessness in that city. There are really effectively no housing first programs operating in New York City anymore. There are some that are very successful at it, but their units are full and there's a two or three-year waiting list for any vacancy. I've been speaking with David Giffin. He is the executive director of the coalition for the homeless.

Mr. Giffin, thank you so much for joining us and offering ideas on how to address this issue. Thank you, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. See you this evening.