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40 years before Daniel Penny case, Bernhard Goetz's subway vigilante shooting shocked US ahead of Christmas

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40 years before Daniel Penny case, Bernhard Goetz's subway vigilante shooting shocked US ahead of Christmas

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Bernhard Goetz, then a 37-year-old electronics technician, defended himself from a group of would-be robbers on a New York City subway car Dec. 22, 1984.

Four decades later, another New York straphanger argued self-defense to beat homicide charges in another Big Apple subway vigilante case.

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In May 2023, Daniel Penny, a 26-year-old Marine veteran who was studying architecture at a New York college, placed 30-year-old Jordan Neely in a headlock to stop a violent outburst that frightened passengers and involved threats about killing them and going to prison for life. 

Jurors found Penny not guilty of criminally negligent homicide earlier this month after prosecutors asked the judge to dismiss the most serious charge of manslaughter.

DANIEL PENNY FOUND NOT GUILTY IN SUBWAY CHOKEHOLD TRIAL

Bernhard Goetz, who shot four youths on a crowded subway because he felt he was about to be robbed, was cleared of all attempted murder charges. He was convicted on only one of 13 counts, third-degree weapons possession. (Bettmann via Getty images)

The trials of Goetz and Penny were both highly politicized and scrutinized because of the subjects’ races. Goetz and Penny are both White. Neely and the four men Goetz shot are Black. Legal scholars have spent years discussing whether Goetz would have shot White teens under similar circumstances. Penny’s defense repeatedly accused prosecutors of trying to unfairly inject racial undertones into a trial that did not involve hate crime charges.

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Both cases also reflect deeply held public sentiment that crime was getting out of control in New York City. Goetz had been mugged multiple times in the past, which is why he said he was carrying a handgun. Penny put Neely in a chokehold after a spate of subway incidents involving mentally ill homeless people attacking passengers, telling police, “These guys are pushing people in front of trains and stuff.”

Violent crime dropped dramatically in New York City in the late 1990s and 2000s, but some crimes, robberies in particular, have risen again after a wave of anti-police rioting in 2020 and left-wing political movement to “defund the police.” 

KYLE RITTENHOUSE TRIAL ‘A SHAM AT BEST,’ SUBWAY VIGILANTE BERNIE GOETZ SAYS: ‘SATISFY A MOB’

Daniel Penny returns to the courtroom after a break during his trial in Manhattan Criminal Court Dec. 3, 2024, in New York City.  (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Goetz was acquitted on attempted murder charges but spent 8½ months in jail for possessing the handgun he used to defend himself without a license.

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The case involved four teens — Darrell Cabey, James Ramseur, Troy Canty and Barry Allen. The first two were armed with sharpened screwdrivers, which they claimed were not weapons but tools to break into coin boxes in arcade games, according to court records. 

They got on a Manhattan-bound No. 2 train in the Bronx and surrounded Goetz after he boarded at the 14th Street station in Manhattan and sat down by himself.

Goetz had an unlicensed .38-caliber pistol in his belt loaded with five rounds. 

Bernhard Goetz leaves the courthouse. (Rick Maiman/Sygma via Getty Images)

The teens approached Goetz, and without displaying any weapons, Canty told him, “Give me $5.”

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Rather than being robbed, Goetz pulled out the gun and fired four shots – striking Canty in the chest and Allen in the back. Another round went through Ramseur’s arm and into his side. The fourth shot missed Cabey. Goetz waited a moment, then fired his last shot at Cabey, severing his spinal cord and leaving him paralyzed.

WATCH ‘SCANDALOUS: THE SUBWAY VIGILANTE’ ON FOX NATION

A No. 2 train subway car in the aftermath of the Bernhard Goetz shooting at Manhattan’s Chambers Street Station Dec. 22, 1984. (Carmine Donofrio/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

“I said, ‘You seem to be all right, here’s another,’” Goetz later told detectives. “If I was a little more under self-control … I would have put the barrel against his forehead and fired.” 

He added that if he’d been carrying more bullets, he would have kept shooting.

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The conductor stopped the train and radioed police. Goetz jumped off the train and fled on foot.

STREAM DANIEL PENNY’S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ON FOX NATION

Screenshot from bystander video showing Jordan Neely being held in a chokehold on the New York City subway. (Luces de Nueva York/Juan Alberto Vazquez via Storyful)

The case sparked a media frenzy, and Goetz surrendered to police in Concord, New Hampshire, nine days later. He told them he’d been illegally carrying a pistol since 1981, when he had been “maimed” during a prior mugging. He also said that, on multiple occasions, he’d warded off other would-be robbers by brandishing the weapon and not firing.

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Because of those prior attacks, he said, he knew the teens on the train wanted to rob him based on their behavior and the looks on their faces. Before the case went to trial, at least two of the teens reportedly admitted they were going to rob him, but a court considered those statements hearsay.

Goetz did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

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Boston, MA

Boston sports anecdotes aplenty feature on new YouTube channel

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Boston sports anecdotes aplenty feature on new YouTube channel


Sports

Front Row to Boston Sports shares stories from the past by area media legends, including the Globe’s Bob Ryan and Dan Shaughnessy.

The Front Row to Boston Sports channel has launched on YouTube. screenshot

When reminiscing about sports moments and personalities of days gone by, the familiar anecdotes are often a joy to hear again and again.

Even better, though, is when there are fresh new stories to be told by those who were there.

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The new YouTube channel Front Row to Boston Sports offers both familiar tales and ones you may not have heard before, as told by four of the most connected journalists and best storytellers in the modern annals of sports in this region.

Legendary former sports anchors Mike Lynch (Channel 5) and Bob Lobel (Channel 4), along with Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy and former Globe columnist Bob Ryan, have teamed up to share the funniest, most heartfelt, and illuminating tales from their storied careers, from press row and the locker room.

The project is the brainchild of Peter Brown, a former news director at Channel 4, where he spent 22 years before moving on to an accomplished career in public affairs and communications.

“You come from a news background, you’re always thinking about what’s the best way to tell a story,” he said. “What better story is there to tell than those about Boston sports? Everyone who is from here or has lived here is in some degree a fan. I thought a look back at some great moments and some behind-the-scenes details that only the most plugged-in reporters would know would be a fun thing to do.”

So Brown reached out to Alan Miller, a former sports producer at Channel 4 who worked with Brown during the local news heyday in the 1980-90s. Miller, who later worked at the Globe and in the Channel 7 newsroom before retiring in May 2024, has long been one of the most well-liked figures in the Boston sports media landscape, someone who knows everyone and whose word is as good as a signature on the dotted line.

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Miller thought it was a super idea, and reached out to his close friend Lobel, along with Lynch, Shaughnessy, and Ryan. They all said yes immediately.

“We basically said, just tell us your best stories,” said Miller. “We wanted the stories that maybe you couldn’t tell on TV or in the newspaper, but the ones you might have told your buddies at the bar. The ones about what people are really like and what gets said behind the scenes. The ones about relationships. These were the four perfect guys to tell those.”

Currently, there are eight clips posted on the channel, ranging in length from just longer than three minutes (Ryan talking about his top five all-time Celtics) to 13 minutes (Shaughnessy sharing an assortment of Terry Francona stories). One of Lobel’s clips includes an emotional discussion of Ted Williams, while Lynch is especially insightful talking about Bill Belichick’s candor off camera during their old Bellistrator segments.

Brown and Miller plan to sprinkle out a few new clips each week. Since the project has been in the works for approximately a year, they were able to build up a catalogue of 30 clips before launch.

Miller said there’s another reason that everyone involved wanted to be part of the project — the fear that institutional knowledge about Boston sports isn’t what it used to be because of the changing media landscape.

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“When I was at Channel 7, John Havlicek died, and I think there were about three people in the newsroom who knew how John Havlicek was,” he said. “It’s not their fault, a lot of them are 20-something kids and half of them are from out of town.

“But there can be a real lack of knowledge about the past. And Boston sports, as you know, has an amazing past. You’d like the legacy and the memories to stay alive.”

Bonkers ratings in Boston

It’s no surprise that Patriots television ratings have risen this season corresponding with the team’s return to prominence.

But even if the rise in ratings is logical, some of the heights that they are reaching — or returning to, a half-dozen years after Tom Brady’s final season in New England — are remarkable.

Take last Sunday’s 35-31 loss to the Bills, which aired at 1 p.m. on CBS as a regional broadcast. The game had a 31.4 household rating and 78 share in Boston.

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That household rating — the percentage of households in a defined area tuned in to a program at a given time — is the highest for any Patriots game on any network since the regular season finale against the Dolphins in 2021. That also happens to be the last season the Patriots made the playoffs.

The 78 share — the percentage of households with television in use — is reminiscent of the viewership the Patriots enjoyed during the dynasty. As noted here previously, the Patriots averaged a 35.3 household rating and 66 share in 2018, their most recent Super Bowl-winning season.

Nine of the Patriots’ 14 games have aired on CBS this season. Those broadcasts have averaged a 25.7 household rating and 73 share, up 35 percent from last year (19.0/59) through the same span.

Overall last Sunday, the 1 p.m. slot — which also included the Chargers-Chiefs matchup — was a massive success for CBS, averaging 18.9 million viewers across the games. That made it the most-watched regional window on any network in 37 years.

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Chad Finn

Sports columnist

Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.





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Pittsburg, PA

City residents staunchly oppose proposed property tax increase

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City residents staunchly oppose proposed property tax increase






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Connecticut

Woman suffers life threatening injuries in Rocky Hill house fire

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Woman suffers life threatening injuries in Rocky Hill house fire


A woman was rushed to the hospital after being seriously hurt in a fire Saturday in Rocky Hill.

This all unfolded during the late morning hours at a home on Main Street.

Fire officials say they had to rescue the woman from the home and her injuries are considered life threatening.

Hoarding conditions did a play a factor in the fire, according to the fire department.

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No other injuries were reported. Further details pertaining to the fire weren’t immediately available.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.



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