Marine veteran Daniel Penny is celebrating his recent acquittal for manslaughter inside a historic college football game suite.
Penny, who was recently found not guilty in the subway chokehold death of homeless man Jordan Neely, joined President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance in a suite at Northwest Stadium in Maryland for the 125th Army-Navy game Saturday. Trump's suite also hosted Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Vivek Ramaswamy and Trump's FBI director pick Kash Patel.
Photos of Penny posing alongside Trump and Vance in the suite went viral during the game.
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Multiple social media users responded with waves of praise for Penny, hailing the marine veteran as a hero.
Cryptocurrency influencer Tiffany Fong shared the photo, praising Penny as a hero in a post on X.
"Donald Trump [and] JD Vance know that Daniel Penny is a hero," Fong wrote.
Conservative X influencer and podcast host Nick Sortor called for Penny to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the post, and dozens of others agreed with him in X responses.
"Daniel Penny received a HERO’S WELCOME from President Trump and JD Vance at the Army Navy game Much deserved!" Sortor wrote. "I truly hope Trump will give Penny the Presidential Medal of Freedom."
Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., shared the photo with a caption that said, "Common sense reigns again!"
Ramaswamy and his son Arjun took their own photo with Penny and took pride in having contributed to Penny's legal fund.
"Our family contributed to this man’s legal defense fund last year because he was wronged. We don’t regret it. Hope Daniel Penny has a bright future & good life ahead," Ramaswamy wrote.
Author Ashley St. Clair shared the photo with a caption that suggested Penny was on trial for being a White male. Penny's chokehold of Neely, who was Black, ignited a national conversation about race.
"The days of vitriol and persecution against white men simply for being white men are over," St. Clair wrote.
During Penny's trial, prosecutors routinely referred to the marine veteran as "the White man."
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Penny was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the subway chokehold death of Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia who barged onto the train shouting death threats May 1, 2023.
Witnesses testified Neely's threats scared them more than a typical subway outburst would, and they were thankful for Penny's intervention.
Neely had a lengthy criminal record, an active arrest warrant, a history of psychosis and was high on K2, a synthetic form of marijuana that pathologists described as a stimulant.
When jurors declared they had found Penny not guilty of criminally negligent homicide Dec. 9, his side of the courtroom in New York City erupted with cheers. At the same time, the verdict prompted an angry response from Neely's side, including his father, Andre Zachary, who was escorted out of the courthouse along with several Black Lives Matter leaders.
Penny thanked the jurors for their verdict in an interview with Fox News Wednesday.
"I'd like to give them a hug. I'd like to thank them. Yeah, definitely. It takes a lot of courage, especially in this climate in New York City, to stick up for me," he told "The Five" co-host Judge Jeanine Pirro in a preview Wednesday during an exclusive interview airing on Fox Nation.
The marine veteran said if he faced the same situation on the subway with someone making threats and acting erratically, he would take action again.
"I would not be able to live with myself if I didn't do anything in that situation and someone got hurt," he said. "I would feel guilty for the rest of my life."
Vance was one of the first politicians to express support for Penny in the aftermath of the verdict and said he extended the initial invitation to Penny for the suite Saturday.
"Daniel’s a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone," Vance wrote on X Friday. "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."
Penny still faces a lawsuit from Zachery, who accuses the 26-year-old of causing his son’s death through "negligence, carelessness and recklessness." Zachery is seeking unspecified damages for assault and battery, according to a copy of the complaint.
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