‘Guardian Angels’ Founder Blames New York’s Surging Crime On ‘Daniel Penny Effect’

Carlos Sliwa, the founder of the citizen public safety group Guardian Angels, blamed the “Daniel Penny effect” for a spike in disturbing subway incidents in which bystanders have refused to intervene or even call for help.

The Guardian Angels non-profit was founded in 1979 at the height of New York City’s crime wave, when the Big Apple had some of the highest violent crime rates in the country. The volunteer force — who are easily recognized by their red outfits and berets — started patrols on the city’s subway lines and high crime areas in order to deter violent crime and robberies.

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Amidst a massive spike in subway crime since 2020, Sliwa and the Guardian Angels are once again taking to New York’s subway lines to fulfill their original mission. Sliwa personally led a large group of Guardian Angels on a patrol last week after a woman was burned alive by a homeless illegal alien while sleeping on a train last month.

Guardian Angels will re-appear on subways again in response to sky-high crime pic.twitter.com/53lynsOvc6

— New York Post (@nypost) December 29, 2024

“We’re going to have to increase our numbers, increase the training and increase our presence as we did back in 1979,” Sliwa said at the Brooklyn station where the woman was killed, according to a report from the New York Post.

“We went from 13 to 1,000 [members] back then within a period of a year,” he said. “Because the need was there. The need is here now once again. We’re going to step up. We’re going to make sure we have a visual presence just like we had in the ’70s, 80’s and ’90s.”

In the wake of the savage subway killing, “hundreds of citizens” have called on the Guardian Angels to resume their patrols, Silwa told the outlet. “We’re covering the actual trains from front to back, walking through the trains and making sure that everything is okay,” he added. “We’re doing this constantly now. Starting today. that’s going to be our complete focus because the subways are out of control.”

While total subway crime decreased by roughly six percent in 2024, murder has spiked nearly 60 percent, approaching all-time highs. Just this week, a homeless man threw an unsuspecting subway passenger in front of a moving train as it pulled into a Manhattan station. Miraculously, the victim survived after falling into the trench of the train tracks.

In what has become a common occurrence, the suspect in the unprovoked attack had a lengthy criminal record, including a charge for assaulting police officers.

While speaking with Fox News over the weekend, Sliwa blamed the disturbing trend in unprovoked violence on “the Daniel Penny effect,” a reference to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s manslaughter case against a marine veteran who intervened to stop a deranged homeless man who was threatening to kill other passengers. Penny was ultimately acquitted of all charges after a week of deliberations.

“Is there a Daniel Penny effect?” Fox News host Brian Kilmeade asked, drawing a “yes” from Sliwa.

“The Daniel, Daniel Penney, I call it the Daniel Penney paralysis of mostly men who normally might have gotten involved. We were taught in elementary school if one of your friends would ever catch on fire, you know, when throwing a firecracker, knock him down, roll him, put something on him, put out the flames,” he said.

“The guy who set her afire took his jacket off and fanned the planes and nobody stopped him. It shows you the Daniel Penney effect, and it’s totally emasculating this city.”

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