Remembering College Student Shot By Police In Westchester

PLEASANTVILLE, NY — Ten years after Pace University student Danroy Henry was killed by a Pleasantville police officer, the school's Black Student Union will host a social justice rally and memorial service Thursday.

The event, on what would have been Henry’s 31st birthday, will include speakers, a time of reflection from Henry’s friends and family, and the retirement of the varsity football player's No. 12 jersey. It's part of Social Justice Week at the college's Pleasantville campus.

Henry was shot and killed during a post-Homecoming game celebration in the early morning hours of Oct. 18, 2010. The 20-year-old, who had played earlier, was shot by Pleasantville Officer Aaron Hess, who was off duty and out of his jurisdiction. Hess said he saw a group "acting aggressively" outside a Thornwood bar as he was passing by, called it in, and stayed as Mount Pleasant officers responded.

When police arrived, Henry was parked in a fire lane with friends in a car near Finnegan's Grill. Witnesses said a police officer knocked on the driver's-side window and Henry began to move away believing the officer was instructing him to.

Henry was then shot through his windshield by the off-duty cop who had hung around.

Hess said Henry was driving toward him and hit him. He said he could have stepped out of the way but did not because he always expected people to stop for a police officer. Hess ended up on the hood, and some witnesses said he jumped on it, disputing police accounts. He fired four shots at the driver.

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.

The Pleasantville police union named Hess "Officer of the Year" in 2011. The village of Pleasantville paid Henry's parents $6 in 2016 in a legal settlement. The size of the settlement the family reached the following year with the town of Mount Pleasant for failing "to respond to the grievous gunshot wounds inflicted by Mr. Hess upon their son" was undisclosed.

The case drew new attention after the police shooting of Michael Brown in Missouri and continues to be revisited after each shooting of Black people by police officers.

In 2018, CBS did a 48 HOURS program focusing on Henry's parents and their struggle to restore their son's reputation. (In 2017, Mount Pleasant officials apologized that "statements made by its officials in the hours after the incident caused additional pain to the Henry family.")

This summer, many celebrities who have been following the case for years wrote to U.S. Attorney General William Barr asking that the case be reopened.

Meanwhile, Pleasantville officials are hosting a public webinar Nov. 5 and 19 to discuss their state-mandated police reform review. Over the summer, they wrote an article on the village about the effort, saying they had been fielding questions from residents in the wake of nation-wide protests after George Floyd died when a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly 9 minutes.

"One frequently asked question is whether the Village Police Department has adopted the use-of-force policies outlined in “8 Can’t Wait”, a campaign to restrict police use of force that has gained significant attention in the wake of Floyd's death," they wrote. "The Pleasantville Police Department updated its use of force policy in 2019 using the New York State Department of Criminal Justice model as a guide. Today, our local policy already closely aligns with many of the tenets of 8 Can’t Wait."

Mount Pleasant is also mandated to conduct a police reform review. While there is nothing about it on the town's website, there was a notice about the Westchester County Police Reform and Reimagining Task Force public forum which was Tuesday.

SEE ALSO:

• For the Family of DJ Henry, Ferguson and New York Are Familiar Sights
• DJ Henry's Family Awarded $6M Over Police Shooting
• Settling with DJ Henry's Family, Town Issues Limited Apology
• Henry Remembered at Pace 5 Years After Shooting
• Conflicting Accounts of DJ Henry Shooting Continue to Emerge
• Aaron Hess Named Officer of the Year by Pleasantville Police Union
• No Federal Charges in Cop's Fatal Shooting of Black Student
• Pleasantville Officer Hess Leaves on Disability Retirement
• Kanye West/Jay-Z Commemorate DJ Henry in Rap
• DJ Henry: Parents, Lawyer Claim Cover Up by Authorities
• Deadly Shooting At Thornwood Shopping Center