LEGAL: DJ Henry’s Family Address Depositions from the Police BY NANCY KING and SAM ZHERKA

TARRYTOWN, NY -- 829 days have passed since Pace University student Danroy DJ Henry was shot to death by Mount Pleasant P.D., in Thornwood, New York, following what should have been a homecoming celebration with family, friends and classmates.  Those 829 days are equal to 118 weeks; 118 weeks that a family has had to come to grips with the sad fact that their child was shot by police officers who were only supposed to be responding to a bar fight.  Those 829 days are equal to 27 months; 27 months that a family has searched for an answer as to why their child died at the hands of a police officer with a gun.  Those 829 days are equal to 2 years, 3 months and 6 days, the amount of time that we, along with the Henry family have waited for depositions; depositions that are hoped to shed some light on those horrible 20 seconds 829 days ago when DJ Henry was shot to death.  Those 829 days of waiting have proven what some of us have known all along, and that is that the Mount Pleasant Police Department and the attorneys for Pleasantville Police Officer Aaron Hess, covered up the truth about Danroy Henry Jr.’s murder. 

In the last few weeks, some of those depositions have been released by the Sussman and Watkins law firm based out of Goshen, NY.  Wordy and tedious, those depositions clearly show that DJ Henry was indeed shot and killed by Pleasantville Police Officer Aaron Hess as he clung to the hood of DJ’s car.  The testimony given by retired Mount Pleasant Police Officer Ronald Beckley clearly indicates Hess was the aggressor, throwing himself onto the hood of DJ Henry’s car and that Officer Beckley shot Hess in the knee after witnessing this aggressive lunge and in the darkness was unaware that he had shot a fellow police officer.  All that Beckley did was shoot at an individual, who in the darkness was never identified as a police officer.  More importantly that in the dark, and in the confusion, Beckley was able to see that Hess fired into the windshield of DJ Henry’s car and did so at point blank range. 

There we have it… the truth, attested to by only one person, a police officer who was called to quell a melee and who had never discharged his weapon on anything other than a sick raccoon during his 30 years on the job; testifying that he had shot a man who he perceived as the aggressor, a man he believed lunged at and threw his body onto the hood of a car; the man he saw fire a shot point blank at DJ Henry through the windshield.  It has taken 829 days to finally get someone to tell the truth; while his superiors tried desperately to cover that truth up.

The January 24, 2013 press conference conducted at the Doubletree Inn in Tarrytown, NY, presented the printed evidence, taken from former Officer Ronald Beckley’s sworn deposition that he knew that he shot P.O. Hess. Hess was never run over by DJ’s car causing his knee injury; he was shot by Beckley.  Beckley admitted it to Mount Pleasant Lt. Brian Fanelli, and Fanelli and Chief Lou Alagno created a spin that pinned the blame entirely on the shoulders of a dead 20-year-old.  People “heard” DJ was drunk, and “heard” he used his car as a lethal weapon… that’s what the Mount Pleasant Police wanted “us” to believe.  Rather than tell the world the truth, they concocted a story and ran with it.  They never told Police Officer Beckley their “concocted story”; he merely told the truth under oath. 

Though this sort of spin isn’t surprising or even unusual, it is sad.  Sadder still is that Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore and two of her investigators were aware of this spin just eight hours after the shooting.  This is the same District Attorney who hugged the Henry Family, looked them in the eye and told them she would be careful, considerate, and would find the truth.  What she did instead was to just make that “thin blue line” a little bit thicker and protected her own.  Of course, DA DiFiore’s investigation never held Police Officer Hess culpable and of course, always sided with law enforcement.  It was disappointing 2-years ago, but now we’ve come to expect cover-ups from that office.  After all, in the time since DJ’s murder, we’ve watched her trump up charges against former White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley, and call the police shooting of Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr. justified, and lets not forget about Nannygate. Governor Andrew Cuomo designated Janet DiFiore Director of the Board of JCOPE, the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics, placing her in charge of his ethics committee so nothing is surprising about her decisions at this juncture.  It’s all just so damn sad….

During the Grand Jury testimony, a twenty-year-old kid with no life experience whatsoever was presented as an irresponsible underage drinker who was using his car as a weapon.  The truth, which 829 days later was proven by the testimony of Officer Beckley is that DJ Henry was nothing more than a scared and confused kid who was told one thing by one cop and told another thing by another cop and ended up getting shot to death by yet another cop who never bothered to communicate with his  fellow officers.  There you have it; DJ Henry was in essence, killed by miscommunication.   And, this miscommunication was covered up by the Mount Pleasant Police Department and corroborated by Westchester Councy District Attorney Janet DiFiore, Board Director of JCOPE.

829 days later, I had a brief moment with Angella Henry, DJ’s mom.  We hugged, and we cried.  Our children started Iona together with the greatest of dreams.  For the time being, mine gets to fulfill her dreams while Angella and Dan Sr. get to visit a headstone.  For a brief moment, we were just two moms in a room sharing a “mom’s embrace” but I won’t renege on my promise to her…,” I’ll see this through with you until the end and the truth is finally revealed”.

Nancy King is a freelance reporter for The Westchester Guardian and Sam Zherka is its publisher.

Related articles

Grand Jury Ruling on the Shooting of Danroy "D.J." Henry By Damon Jones

Henry Family Statement

Police account misleading, slain football player's family says

Comments

[Daffy Duck]

Yet sad that this young man died, he was drunk behind the wheel of a vehicle being used as a weapon, refusing Police orders to stop. TRAGIC BUT NOT A CRIME BY POLICE, DOING THERE JOB.

[Nothing good can come from this.]

I'm not buying any of this spin story.

The police do not go to work hoping to shoot someone.

When the police issue a command to a citizen, that citizen has to comply.

Clearly, this did not happen and many lives have been impacted by this incident.

To keep pressing this nightmare is only going to divide us even more.

[Richard Heck]

When the police screw up they need to be held accountable! Hess did not know if Danroy had been drinking - to kept using this as justification for the shooting is bs. Hess has yet ro explain why he felt it necessary to try to stop the car...his own disposition stated taht he lunged onto he hood, not that he was hit. Secondly Hess has refused to release his his medical records from that night.... for all we know he was shot by Buckley.... lies, lies and more damn lies

[FrankieBullets]

Poor,poor Dan*****, to me
it is just thinning out the herd.
If Obama had a son he would
look like Dan*****. Boo-hoo.

Editor's Note: Ugly diatribe replaced by ***** as is the bigoted comment that follows using the same epithet. Lastly your lack of empathy for the tragedy, for the deceased, the police officers, the parents, relatives, and friends, and the undertone of bigotry detract from you rather than anyone else. You may wish to chill / calm down. Kindly, Hezi

[FrankieBullets]

Dan ****'s family could care less
about his death, all they want is the
ghetto hood lottery that the tax payers
will be on the hook for. Again lets thin out
the herd.

Editor's Note: I have edited the derogatory and rascist statements. It is offensive. Calm down and make yourself best heard by doing so in palatable language.

Kindly, Hezi

[Pace Student]

It is a proven fact that Henry was legally intoxicated. He drove away from the scene of a near riot drunk, failing to obey the lawful orders of a police officer to stop. If officer Hess did in fact jump on the hood of the car, he probably had no other means of escaping injury or death if a 3,000 lb hunk of metal is coming towards him. He fired the shots into the windshield to stop the driver who still had not stopped his vehicle.Even if officer Hess was shot by the other officer, it was reportedly dark and he probably thought officer Hess was a aggressor. All this transpired in a matter of seconds. From what I read about this case, something like 75 witnesses gave testimony at the grand jury, so I guess all these witnesses are lying. This case was also investigated by the NYS police and the Westchester crime lab, and a seperate outside lab all with the same results. So everybody must be lying. Put the blame where it belongs, on a stupid drunk college kid who made several vad decisions and suffered the consequences.

[anon]

the fact that buckley admitted shooting at Hess whom
he "thought" was the agressor is not inconsistant
with the testimoney from Hess that in order to avoid
being hit by the car he had to jump on the hood...its
simply stated from a different mind set and geographical point of view....but the one thing that
is not contradicted is that the driver did not stop
his car when told to do so...that is an unfortunate and
inconvenient fact that makes the death much more of
a tragedy but does not mean that the da in particular
is covering up anything

[anon]

and one other observation..there is no place for the
kind of language used in the above posts and deleted
appropriately by the editor...thinning the herd are the
words of a person whose perspective is totally
upside down..you seem to forget that mr henry was
in college getting his education which is probably
more than you have and that is hardly where thinning
should occur even under your warped view of things

[anon said...]

Now you are going against the 1st Amendment too Edelfraud?

What is wrong with you? Granted, what was posted was in bad taste but the poster has the RIGHT to say what ever he wants.

What a Liberal fool you are.

[anon said...]

Wow Edelfraud!

Look at your own poast of last year! I guess you change your tune at will. You are a shill....

anon said....

there were no less than 85 grand jury witnesses including officer Hess who was not given immunity
there were over 100 pieces of evidence including a
video surveilance tape...the 23 members of the grand
jury voted not to indict...just because there was
a death as tragic as it was, doensn't mean there was
a crime committed by the police..just because there
are some that have a different view doesn't make it
so..and just because their is a civil lawsuit doesn't
mean the grand jury didn't do its job..the DA conducted
a thorough, meticulous and fair investigation of the
death of danroy henry...that is her job and that is
what she did...the case is over

ReplyFebruary 15, 2011 at 08:44

[disgrace]

So where should "thinning of the herd" begin Edelman? You seem to have a starting point in mind. As a person of Jewish heritage, you should be ashamed to even insinuate that because someone has a college education that they are better or more valuable to society than another! Your comment was disgusting and has no place in our society!

[Blue Truth]

MESSAGE OF NECESSITY

Yonkers P.B.A. President Keith Olson managed to infiltrate one comment on the last article that was submitted about his unethical behavior .

It seems that he himself may be shopping around for representation as he may face questioning surrounding why he was caught vandalizing city owned fuel pumps, and precincts walls.
Recently, Olson set a new standard. He thought that his membership would forget that he and his allies worked very hard with the previous administration in undermining the Police Commissioner Robert Taggart in the hopes that the great messiah John Mueller would become the new commissioner, and that he could play the unofficial role as Deputy Commissioner. Therefore have the power to call all the shots. However, their great plan backfired, and landed them Harnett, who had his own agenda. As they provided information, Harnett targeted certain members of the P.B.A. In return, Harnett cuddled them while dismantling units from the department, and cut orders like sandwiches, while P.B.A. President Olson sat on the wall like “Humpty Dumpty”.

The truth is that Olson and his cronies were well taken care of while the membership from the C.L.S. and the P.B.A. hump the radio. It was a unprofessional ploy by the people involved that cost the membership positions and a potential contract. Unfortunately to both memberships, Harnett, the City, and Olson were able to divert the truth to the city’s financial woes. If any member spoke out to the membership, they were targeted by premeditated, misleading and unauthorized investigations conducted and planned by P.B.A President Keith Olson, Captain John Mueller, and Detective Sergeant Brian Moran of the Special Investigation Unit. The Yonkers Firefighters should well know that these members led one of the city’s largest probes into the larceny of city gasoline, in which they took great pride in parading and interviewing close to one hundred working Firefighters from another union, at the urging of then Deputy Mayor Regan.

Now, the “trio” are the minority that carries that rancid smell of rodents that can’t spray paint their way out. The truth is, their careers are over in this city because they have no credibility, and are forever stained with mistrust. Union officials from this city must move to rid this city of such an odor, and memberships from all unions must voice their dismay by the power of the election process. The Yonkers P.B.A. membership need to find their way back to the right path without Olson, so we can begin to be recognized by the City of Yonkers, and other Union Leaders as a professional and responsible union. That is the message of necessity that cannot be misconstrued, or misquoted.

-BLUE TRUTH

[anon]

what I am insinuating is that the person posting that
thinning of the herd comment should be the one to
be ashamed...he suggests by implication that because
mr henry was black his loss should not be mourned
my point was that even under his warped view you
wouldn't thin anyone who has the integrity and intelligence to go to school...clearly i wasn't accepting his thining of the herd comment as anything
other than racist phobia..and for the poster who
suggests that my post is inconsistant clearly you
can't read....I said that the testimony of buckley
WAS NOT inconsistant with that of officer hess and
that THE DA DID INDEED DO HER JOB...

[LIONS AND TIGERS AND MAYORS, OH MY]

Go away Mr. Zherka. We all have your number. I remember like it was yesterday that you were going to hound former Mayor Phil Amicone to the ends of the earth, to ensure that he and he alone paid the punitive damages awarded by the courts for his very expensive lap dance. Instead, you allowed the citizens of Yonkers to pay for these damages via the Yonkers City Council vote indemnifying this lowlife. You saw that you got your money and you shut your mouth. You are a fake, phony and fraud.

[Goldy]

Why don't you wear a gold star for a while.

I wonder who was paying for his college education. It has no bearing on the case, but I am curious.