If Brown had a brain he would not have strong armed the store owner
Do you think that was the first time this outstanding citizen did this heroic deed?
BTW if the Black community wanted to get involved over the killing of an upstanding young black male, who was not a hoodlum, it is this case:
DJ Henry, a Pace University honor student from Easton who was shot to death in Mount Pleasant, N.Y., by police in 2010.
Where was the community support for this totally innocent teenager?
I was there.
Where were you?
Henry Family Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit
NEWS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS  BOSTON
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By Phillip Martin
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Apr. 20. 2011
Angella Henry, the mother of DJ Henry, holds a tee-shirt she was sent by college students in support of her son. (Jess Bidgood/WGBH)
BOSTON — On Wednesday, the parents of a college student from Massachusetts who was killed by police in a New York suburb plan to file a multi-million dollar civil lawsuit against two police departments.
This week, the parents of Danroy "DJ" Henry Jr. marked the 6-month anniversary of his death from gun shot wounds inflicted by a Pleasantville New York police officer, Aaron Hess.
The Henrys are filing a formal lawsuit against both the Pleasantville and Mt. Pleasant police departments, both of which had officers involved in the October 17th shooting. The lawsuit, which seeks $120 million for wrongful death, will be filed in Westchester County, New York, by family attorney Michael Sussman.
In February, a New York grand jury declined to hand down indictments in the shooting death of the 20-year-old Pace University football player from Easton. Henry was shot as he pulled away from a restaurant and bar in the village of Thornwood in the area of Mt Pleasant, New York.
According to multiple witnesses, Officer Hess, while clinging to the hood of the car, fired through the windshield of the moving vehicle. Henry’s friend, 20-year-old Brandon Cox, also of Easton, was sitting in the passenger seat. Cox was wounded when police opened fire. He testified before the grand jury that Henry drove away from Finnigan's Bar and Restaurant at the insistence of another officer, who reportedly had ordered him to move out of a fire lane.
Police, however, allege that Henry sped up and tried to run Officer Aaron Hess over with his car. They also allege that Henry was intoxicated, although witnesses, including a bar tender, said that Henry did not drink that evening, and in fact was the designated driver for three friends.
Lawyers for the Henry family argue that the police version of events is inconsistent with known evidence and are filing the lawsuit in part to gain access to video tapes from banks and other businesses in the area. Those tapes were confiscated by police and the Westchester County district attorney’s office immediately after the shooting and have not been made public.
Meanwhile, a federal investigation of the shooting is in progress.
EARLIER: HENRYS ANGERED BY POLICE AWARD
Parents Of DJ Henry 'Insulted' By NY Officer Award
NEWS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS BOSTON
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By Phillip Martin
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Apr. 14, 2011
A poster of Danroy "DJ" Henry sits in the Henry's Easton home, signed by his friends and classmates. (Jess Bidgood/WGBH)
BOSTON — The family of an Easton, Massachusetts college student, who was fatally shot by a policeman in Westchester County, New York last year, is reacting angrily to a decision by a police union in that state to honor the officer involved.
Aaron Hess, a member of the Pleasantville police department has been awarded Officer of the Year by the town’s Police Benevolent Association.
An attorney representing Officer Hess said, in a written statement,
The PBA's Award is an expression of support for the dignified and professional manner in which Officer Hess has conducted himself throughout his career and this ordeal, and most particularly, the very difficult aftermath of this tragic incident.
But Angella Henry, the mother of Danroy “DJ” Henry, described the award as “arrogant” and “insulting.” She and her husband, Danroy Henry Sr., plan next week to file a lawsuit against Pleasantville and Mt. Pleasant, New York, in connection with their son's death.
DJ Henry was alleged to have driven his car toward Hess on the night of October 17, outside of Finnegan’s grill in Mt. Pleasant -- a popular bar/restaurant that has since closed.
Officer Hess, according to witnesses, fired into the moving automobile as he clung to the hood of the car.
But the speed at which Henry was driving and the conflicting instructions from another officer are believed to have contributed to the tragic events of that evening. The officer reportedly instructed Henry to move his car from a fire lane just moments before he was shot.
An autopsy report showed that Henry’s alcohol blood level was slightly above the legal limit. But interviews with several witnesses who were in and outside of Finnegan's, including a bartender, said that Henry was not drinking that evening. He was the designated driver.
Witness accounts of what happened differ considerably from the police version of events in almost all respects. A Westchester County grand jury two months ago declined to charge officer Hess and another policeman with a crime.
But the legal wrangling is not over. Next week, the Henry family will file a $100-million-dollar-plus lawsuit against the village of Pleasantville and the town of Mount Pleasant, New York. Danroy Henry Senior says the lawsuit will grant subpoena powers to his lawyers to collect video surveillance tapes and other items from the Westchester county DA’s Office:
“So we can go after evidence that’s been withheld from us to date and we hope its information the DA’s office pursued themselves, though we have real questions about whether they did, things like Aaron Hess' police record. We’d like to see the tapes. We’d like to hear the 911 audio We want access to the police reports that were filed that night. Things that will be really important pieces of the truth gathering process, because we expect in them we will find contradictions,” Henry said.
The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is also investigating the shooting of DJ Henry.
GREATER BOSTON: DJ HENRY SHOOTER RECEIVES AWARD |
