DJ Henry's Family Awarded $6M Over Police Shooting

By JASON CLAFFEY and LANNING TALIAFERRO (Patch Staff)

The family of DJ Henry, the Pace University football player shot and killed by a police officer in New York in 2010, has accepted a $6 million settlement.

The settlement was reached with the village of Pleasantville and former Pleasantville Police Officer Aaron Hess. The attorney representing Henry's parents, Danroy and Angella Henry of Easton, Massachusetts, announced the agreement Monday.

“No monetary settlement could ever replace the deep loss of their son DJ,” Michael Sussman said.

SEE: DJ Henry Remembered at Pace 5 Years After Shooting

Henry was killed in the early morning hours of Oct. 18, 2010. Henry, who had played earlier for Pace University’s football team that Homecoming Day, was shot by an off-duty Pleasantville policeman who saw a fracas outside a bar as he was passing by and stayed as Mount Pleasant officers responded.

Henry, 20, was parked in a fire lane when a police officer knocked on the driver’s-side window. He moved away believing the officer was instructing him to.

Henry was shot through his windshield by another officer. The policeman who shot him, Aaron Hess, said Henry was driving toward him, hit him, and wouldn’t stop. He ended up on the hood, and some witnesses said he jumped on it, disputing police accounts. Another officer, Ronald Beckley of the Mount Pleasant police force, also fired. But Beckley said in a deposition that he was firing at the person on the hood, thinking it was Henry, not Hess under attack.

Witnesses at the scene begged police and emergency responders to treat Henry as he lay bleeding out -- but Hess said he had suffered a leg injury and he was treated first.

Federal and state authorities investigated the case but decided not to pursue charges against Hess. The Pleasantville Police Benevolent Association later named Hess its Officer of the Year. He is no longer with the department.

The case drew new attention after the police shooting of Michael Brown in Missouri.

Sussman said the litigation continues against the Town of Mount Pleasant and members of the Mount Pleasant Police Department "who failed to respond to the grievous gunshot wounds inflicted by Mr. Hess upon their son."

In addition, he said, litigation by the passengers in Henry's car that night - former Pace University students who allege that law enforcement violated their rights, continues in federal court in White Plains.

EDITOR'S NOTE: More coverage of the DJ Henry shooting:

• 2nd Settlement: Money and Limited Apology
  
• DJ Henry Remembered at Pace 5 Years After Shooting
• No Federal Charges in Cop's Fatal Shooting of DJ Henry
• Kanye West/Jay-Z Commemorate DJ Henry in Rap
• DJ Henry: Parents, Lawyer Claim Cover Up by Authorities
• For the Family of DJ Henry, Ferguson and New York Area
• Conflicting Accounts of DJ Henry Shooting Continue to Emerge
• Report: DJ Henry's Parents React to Fanelli Arrest
• Deadly Shooting At Thornwood Shopping Center