Vice President-elect J.D. Vance has invited Daniel Penny, the man acquitted in the death of a disruptive man he restrained on a New York subway, to attend the Army-Navy game in Maryland on Saturday.
Mr. Penny, a 26-year-old Marine Corps veteran, accepted the invitation, meaning Mr. Penny will likely take in the annual military game with Mr. Vance and President-elect Donald Trump, who has invited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to the college football showdown.
“Daniel’s a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone,” Mr. Vance wrote on X. “I’m grateful he accepted my invitation and hope he’s able to have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage.”
A jury acquitted Mr. Penny of criminally negligent homicide in a case that stemmed from a May incident. Mr. Penny held Jordan Neely, a homeless man with a history of mental illness, in a chokehold for roughly five minutes after Neely started threatening passengers on a New York City subway car.
Prosecutors alleged Mr. Penny held him for longer than necessary, though Mr. Penny says he was worried about what Neely might do if he let go.
“Part of my worry was if I let him go and an incoming train comes, as he’s running away, pushes somebody onto the tracks,” Mr. Penny told Fox News host Jeanine Pirro in a post-trial interview. “It’s part of the reason why I did what I did in the way that I did it.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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