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Critics are calling out the so-called “Daniel Penny effect” after several bystanders and even police officers appeared to stand by without helping while an innocent woman was burned to death in a subway car. in New York City.
The heinous crime allegedly took place by an illegal immigrant who targeted the woman while she was sleeping. Sources told Fox News that the woman has not yet been identified days after the horror because she suffered severe burns.
Investigators also believe she was homeless and are working to locate possible family members.
Sources previously identified the person of interest to Fox News Digital as Sebastián Zapeta, 33, who has been charged with first and second degree murderas well as arson in the first degree.
Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court on Tuesday, December 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Curtis means via Pool)
Surveillance video from Sunday’s attack showed the suspect approaching the woman, who was sitting motionless and likely sleeping, while she was aboard an F train stopped at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station and then setting her on fire.
It is also noted that the address Zapeta gave to the police matches that of a substance abuse support center in New York City.
A man who lived in the same shelter where Zapeta allegedly lived said that Zapeta smoked K2, a synthetic marijuana that can contain many different chemicals and drugs, “every day,” according to a report by The New York Post.
The man also claimed that Zapeta often smoked, drank and then “lost control.”
Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court on Tuesday, December 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Curtis means via Pool)
Zapeta is a previously deported migrant from Guatemala who was detained by Border Patrol and subsequently deported by the Trump administration in June 2018 after illegally crossed into Sonoita, Arizona, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson Marie Ferguson previously told Fox News, adding that Zapeta then illegally re-entered the United States.
Guardian Angels founder and local activist Curtis Sliwa told Fox News Digital that this latest act of violence on a New York subway is due to the “Daniel Penny effect.”
Sliwa described the chaotic scene, according to witnesses, saying that no one was helping the woman, but that people were filming the entire event but were not cooperating with authorities.
NYPD Arrests Immigrant Who Allegedly Set Woman on Fire on Subway and Watched Her Burn to Death
Daniel Penny arrives at Supreme Court in Manhattan on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. Penny, a Navy veteran, was charged with second-degree murder and criminally negligent homicide in the 2023 death of Jordan Neely on a Manhattan subway train. New York City. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
“And I think that’s because of the chilling effect that the Daniel Penny situation had on this entire city. It wasn’t a racially divisive case… but what I’ve found is that people just don’t want to get involved,” Sliwa said.
“They don’t want to be penetrated, as I call it, which means, God forbid, dragged into court, prosecuted and then have their lives turned upside down.”
Daniel Penny, a Navy veteran, was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the subway strangulation death of Jordan Neely.
Penny was arrested in May 2023, nearly two weeks after being questioned and released following a deadly encounter with Neely, who was high on drugs and threatening to kill people on a Manhattan F train when the 26-year-old architecture student grabbed him. . a headlock from behind.
Neely also had an active arrest warrant and a long criminal history at the time of his death. I had schizophrenia and a drug abuse problem.
Sliwa said this was similar to the Neely case and that sources say Zapeta had smoked up to $30 worth of K2 a day, as well as drinking a lot of cheap vodka, which he said was a “recipe for chaos.” .
“No one got involved, not even the police on that train. When the police responded, they didn’t respond quickly. And I think more and more, we’ll see citizens just walk away,” Sliwa explained.
Retired NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor Paul Mauro also weighed in on the incident, explaining that a source told him that an officer was looking for a fire extinguisher and that police were responding as quickly as they could. given the circumstances.
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“Look, you can never completely cover the subway, no matter what anyone says. And with the size of the New York City subway system, the transit cops do a great job,” Mauro said.
Kathy Hochul, Governor of New York came under fire on social media Sunday after touting how safe the New York City subway system has become thanks to her efforts, claiming that crime has gone down on Big Apple trains since she deployed the Guard National in March.
The woman was burned alive in the subway that same day. Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul’s office but did not receive a response.
Alexis McAdams of Fox News, Michael Ruiz of Fox News Digital and Lorraine Taylor contributed to this report.
Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Suggestions and story ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com
