NYC NOW - Midday News: Family of Suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO Killing Reacts, Drone Sightings, Migrant Shelter Closures, and Jordan Neely’s Family Files Civil Suit

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

A Maryland lawmaker says his family is “shocked and devastated” after his cousin, Luigi Mangione, was arrested for the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown last week. Meanwhile, unexplained drone sightings on Staten Island and in New Jersey are leaving some residents feeling uneasy. Also, the Adams administration plans to close the migrant shelter at Floyd Bennett Field as the number of asylum seekers arriving in the city is on the decline. Finally, Jordan Neely’s father has filed a civil suit against Daniel Penny, who was acquitted of criminal charges in Neely’s death onboard an uptown F train last year. WNYC’s Charles Lane has the latest.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, December 10th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. A lawmaker in Maryland named Nino Mangione says he's a cousin of the man accused of shooting and killing. United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan last week. Delegate Mangione says the family is, quote, shocked and devastated by Luigi's arrest. Luigi Mangione was taken into custody in Pennsylvania yesterday.

He's being held today without bail, and Manhattan prosecutors have charged him with murder and gun possession, among other crimes. A number of recent drone spottings in Staten Island and Central New Jersey have left some residents with questions. Tina Kelly has been covering the drone sightings for NJ.com. Kelly says the expert she's spoken to think the most likely solution could be the most straightforward. So they're thinking about startup companies that are trying to fly their drones under the radar literally because it's too expensive to get the proper certifications.

Or it could be our military that won't be advertising what they're researching. Experts also say it could be a foreign military operation or bad actors, but Governor Phil Murphy has repeatedly said the drones pose no immediate threat to Garden State residents. Nancy Solomon will ask him about this tomorrow night on another edition of Ask Governor Murphy. The Adams administration says it will shutter the migrant shelter at Floyd Benefield in southeast Brooklyn. The National Park Service manages the airfield for months the city had been leasing it to house asylum seekers in tents, but now City Hall says the number of asylum seekers at city shelters has been decreasing for nearly six months. 47 and clouding out the chance of afternoon showers, a high of 51, and then rain, and fog tonight, rain tomorrow could be heavy at times.

Stay close. There's more after the break. The family of a man killed in a chokehold on board in Uptown F-Train says their fight is not over. Jordan Neely's father has filed a civil lawsuit against Daniel Penny. A Manhattan jury yesterday acquitted penny of criminal charges in Neely's death. Penny held Neely in a chokehold for several minutes on an Uptown F train last year, after witnesses had nearly yelled and threatened passengers on the train. W&MISC, Charles Lane, joins us now. Charles, the standard of proof in a civil trial is way different than a criminal trial. Tell us how different. Yeah, the biggest difference is between ponderance of evidence versus beyond a reasonable doubt. In talking to legal experts

yesterday, they explained how our civil and criminal systems sort of worked together to balance the rights of the accused with the rights of people who are victimized. In criminal trial, the jury has to be unanimously decided that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, which is a very high burden of proof, and in that way we protect the rights of the accused. In civil cases, on the other hand, the jury needs to only find that the plaintiff's claims are more likely than not to be right. In that way, we are protecting the rights of the victimized. That's how it was explained to me. So in the case of the lawsuit that was just filed, the Neely family is claiming that Penny recklessly and negligently caused Neely's death. Whereas in a criminal trial, Penny's freedom was on the line.

Jurors had to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. Now they just have to decide that the claims of the plaintiffs, the Neely family, is more than about 50% right. Another key shift is from a unanimous decision in a criminal trial to for, five, sixth of jurors, typically in New York, five jurors out of six jurors. So that's less of a chance that a loan holdout would be able to hang a jury. The last key difference is, and this might be the most key, is that Penny can't plead the fifth in not testify in a civil case. Now, Penny did not testify in the criminal trial, which is a right under the Constitution, Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

That changes, as you hint at there, Charles, that changes in a civil case. Exactly. And Penny will have to explain himself if this actually goes to trial in a civil case. He's going to have to face hard questions from a lawyer who prepared and probably has pictures and videos and diagrams and who will ask these hard questions. Here is a civil rights lawyer, Joshua Lacks. Answer questions under oath about what it is, they were doing, why they were doing it, why didn't they do things differently, why didn't they

pay attention, why didn't they stop, you know, all of that he's going to have to answer. Lack says that for people who think that justice would be, you know, Penny looking somebody in the eye and saying, this is why I did this, this could be a form of justice for them. Were you able to get an idea about how much money a civil case in this instance might cost Penny? Yeah, lawyers I talked to said it would be almost impossible to come up with a dollar amount that that would be at stake for Penny. It could be a lot or it could be a little, you know, in all honesty, it could be none at all. The experts I talked to said that it all comes down to how well Penny explains his actions to jurors. So if Penny himself, not as lawyers, but if Penny

himself takes the stand and depending how well he explains why he did to the jurors, that could decide, you know, how much or how little he would have to pay. So does this mean the city will have to go through another trial? Yeah, in all likelihood. The procedures for a civil case would be very similar. Penny, there's a chance that he could settle before the trial and avoid all of this, but there's a strong possibility that the case would involve another long trial with more medical evidence, witness testimony, and watching the video again.

and again. Charles Lane has been covering Daniel Penny's criminal trial for WNYC. Here we've been talking about the civil, potential civil trial and civil litigation. Charles, thanks so much. No, thank you. 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

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