NYC NOW - Midday News: Mayor Adams Denied Public Matching Funds, Charges Dropped Against MTA Driver, Fire at Midtown Holiday Market, and Chokehold Case Fallout

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

The New York City Campaign Finance Board has denied public funds for Mayor Eric Adams’ re-election campaign, citing his ongoing criminal indictment and campaign rule violations. Meanwhile, Brooklyn prosecutors dropped charges against an MTA bus driver who was arrested after a violent altercation with a passenger. Also, an early morning fire damaged Midtown’s Herald Holiday Market, injuring a firefighter. Plus, a look at the fallout following Daniel Penny’s acquittal in the subway chokehold case. WNYC’s Charles Lane has more.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Wednesday, December 4th. Here's the midday news. I'm Jene Pierre. Taxpayers will not be footing the bill for Mayor Adams' re-election campaign, at least not yet. The New York City Campaign Finance Board announced this morning that it's withholding public matching money from the mayor, citing his ongoing criminal indictment and his campaign's failure to adhere to the program's rules. Here's board chair Rick Schaefer. The board has determined that there is reason to believe the Adams campaign

has engaged in conduct detrimental to the matching funds program in violation of law, including the Campaign Finance Act and board rules. While Adams did not receive a matching funds payment today, the board stopped short of banning him from the program altogether. The The only candidate for mayor who did receive public money today was Scott Stringer. He was awarded just over $2 million in matching funds. The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office says it will not pursue charges against a 58-year-old MTA bus driver involved in a violent altercation aboard a Brooklyn bus on Friday. The driver was arrested after allegedly stabbing a 33-year-old Brooklyn passenger in the head and leg.

The passenger was also charged with assault. J.P. Patafio is with the Transit Workers Union. He says video of the interaction shows it was in self-defense. This guy was just harassing and haranguing the operator and spitting the operator's face. When the operator got up, he started, you know, punching him and really going after him hard, and the operator defended himself. Police say the passenger was hospitalized in stable condition. In early morning, fire today has destroyed parts of a Manhattan holiday market just ahead of the heart of the holiday season.

The FDMI says a fire broke out just after four at the Herald Holiday Market on Broadway between West 34th and West 35th Street. One firefighter is recovering in the hospital after sustaining injuries while battling the blaze. The Herald Square market started selling gifts and holiday goodies just 10 days ago and was slated to be open through January 3rd. The 34th Street Partnership, which runs the holiday market, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It's a wet day, 44 degrees out there, some light rain as well, mostly cloudy today with highs around 49. It'll be cloudy tonight with lows around 38 and a chance of overnight showers. Stay close. There's more after the break. The New York City area is still grappling with the acquittal of Daniel Penny, the subway rider who held a fellow passenger named Jordan Neely in a chokehold last spring.

Neely's death raised questions about public safety, mental illness, and how we all share space. Despite the verdict, Penny is still a lightning rod of controversy, and he says he wants, most of all, to return to a normal life. But that may be elusive. With me now is WMYC, Charles Lane, who's been reporting on the Penny trial. Charles, good morning. Good morning. You know, top of mind for me right now is the interview Penny gave to Fox Nation, where he said that he wants life to return to normal for him. I'm wondering what that looks like, you know, given what he's experienced and what he represents for a lot of people. Well, what he says is that he wants to go back to school. He wants to study architecture. He wants to become an architect. But he also wants to continue riding the subway.

In this interview that you mentioned, there was an interesting moment where he lists all this stuff, but then he sort of trails off and he says, we'll see, as if it's sort of donning on him that these things that he wants might not actually happen. So I started talking to other people who went through these high-profile prosecutions and their lawyers in order to get a sense of what Penny's life can be like going forward. I got the sense that normalcy was unlikely to happen for a number of reasons, both because of their notoriety, but also because startup financials. But, you know, we should note here that for Neely's family, his father who is actively in civil litigation with Penny, there is no return to normal. Yeah, yeah. Now, Penny's case has been compared to that of Bernie Gets. That's another subway rider who got into a violent altercation on the train that's back in the early 80s. Now, in Gates's case, he shot and injured several young men who he says were trying to rob him. Like Penny, Gates became a folk hero to some and a monster to others. And I understand, Charles, that you spoke to Bernie Gets. What did he have to say? He had an affinity for Penny,

both because their experiences were very, very similar. They both were, both their events happened when there was widespread fear about subway crime and both men's incidences sort of captured the entire public venue at the time. Both Penny and Gitz characterized their actions as defensive. Gitz said he was defending himself and Penny was defending others on the train. both were subject to lengthy and very public prosecutions. Gitz had a lot of resentment toward the media, specifically the New York Times. He says that journalists and general manipulated his statements.

But he said that eventually the media, they went away. And after a few years, things went back to relative normal. He said that his personal life really didn't change all that much. He still lives in the same apartment building. He's still on the Tents Board Association. Though he did say that he lost a lot of business after the trial because no one who consumed New York media wanted to hire him or talk to him. There was a big trump in business. It basically ruined.

The prosecutions destroy you financially. Gets lost a $43 million civil lawsuit from one of the teens who he shot. He declared bankruptcy. And he claims to never actually. having to have to pay a cent towards that jury award. And Charles, you looked at other high-profile acquittals. What can you tell us about how other defendants fared after they were found not guilty? Some of them struggled.

I spoke with George Zimmerman's lawyer. Zimmerman was the Florida man who was acquitted for killing a 17-year-old Traybon Martin in 2012. He struggled to find employment after his acquittal because, you know, no one wanted to hire him. There were thousands of death threats. and his employers were reluctant to take on that kind of potential employers were reluctant to take on that liability. But there's others like Amanda Knox and Kyle Wittenhouse. They have been more successful in part because of how they've embraced a more fragmented media environment. Now, Charles, you mentioned the media, and I want to talk about that a little bit more because, you know, media has changed a lot,

and it's a lot different now than it was during Gets' case in the 80s. How will that change Penny's prospects? The polarized media has already given Penny a very friendly view of forum to express his views. And that likely propelled his legal defense fund, which is just south of $3.5 million right now. On the flip side, Penny's detractors also have friendly venues to criticize him. Going back to Gets for a moment, he said when he traveled for work, people outside of New York, they always commented on his shooting. And then you fast forward to 2020 with people like Kyle Rittenhouse who killed two people in Wisconsin and was accorded for those. He's embraced by gun enthusiasts and they support him now financially.

So what exists now doesn't, didn't exist 40 years ago. One of the most fascinating examples that I found to me was Amanda Knox, who was acquitted for killing her roommate in Italy in 2007. She has since gone on to create a media franchise with books and podcasts and movies and speaking engagements, all of it dedicated around this true crime subgenre, which is just wildly, wildly popular. Yeah, that's WMYC's Charles Lane. Charles, thanks so much for joining us. 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 and occasional deep dives and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you this evening.