Chicago subway passengers subdue violent, threatening, apparently deranged half-naked man with ‘chokehold’ as security guards stand by

By Thomas Lifson

When the police fail to protect the citizenry, vigilantism is the inevitable response. Self-defense is not only a natural, God-given right, it is an imperative that drives behavior, even in the face of adverse consequences. The well-publicized arrest of Daniel Penny for protecting fellow subway passengers in New York City did not deter passengers on Chicago’s’ Blue Line subway at Grand Station from forcibly subduing an apparently deranged man, who apparently had turned violent.  

The embedding function has been disabled, so you will have to go here and click through the warning of “potentially sensitive content” to see the video from which the screengrabs below were taken.  A voice can heard on the Twitter video of the incident, saying, apparently to one of security guards, “He hit her.”

It is most striking that a number of people wearing vests and in uniform can be seen standing by doing nothing, as a couple of passengers took action, forcing the shirtless man to the floor of the station.

One of the bystanders used an arm lock that has been inaccurately described as a “chokehold” in Mr. Penny’s case.

There is no indication that I have been able to find of an arrest of anyone --  the deranged man or Samaritans. The fact that all parties involved are African American may have something to do with it, as well as the fact that no permanent injuries can be observed.

I fear more such incidents are on the way to becoming the norm, as civil society continues to crumble and the law of the jungle comes to characterize Democrat-run cities.