Neely was unarmed, with nothing but a muffin in his pocket, and didn’t touch any passengers on the train. Multiple riders testified that he didn’t even approach anybody.

This makes it sound like the “threat” was flimsy at best. The next line indicates the mother of a 5 year old shielded their kid from him but…like that’s just a mom move. Shed probably also shield the kid from a homeless guy shitting on the BART.