DJ Henry: Parents, Lawyer Claim Cover Up by Authorities

Mount Pleasant police, Westchester County District Attorney's office are accused of lying in a Thursday press conference.

The lawyer for the family of slain Pace University football player and Easton native Danroy "DJ" Henry claims that top-ranking Mount Pleasant policemen and the Westchester County District Attorney's office covered up important information surrounding his 2010 death. Talking to reporters on Thursday morning at the Doubletree Hilton in Tarrytown, NY, attorney Michael Sussman accused Chief Louis Alagno and Lt. Brian Fanelli of knowingly giving contradictory information concerning why officer Ronald Beckley fired his gun towards Henry's car, which was parked in a fire lane near Finnegan's Grill in Thornwood. Sussman, based on gathering depositions from police involved, says that Beckley fired at Pleasantville police officer Aaran Hess, who he …

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Shooting Officer in DJ Henry Case Leaves on Disability Retirement

Pleasantville, NY Police Officer Aaron Hess has been inactive since the shooting of Danroy "DJ" Henry on Oct. 17, 2010.

Aaron Hess, the police officer who shot and killed Easton native DJ Henry, is no longer a member of the Pleasantville, NY Police Department. "I can confirm we did get notice from the state comptroller about a week ago," said Pleasantville Village Administrator Patricia Dwyer. "They ruled favorably on his application for disability retirement." Hess, a member of the police department since May 2003, has been out on medical leave since Oct. 17, 2010, when he was involved in a shooting at the Thornwood Shopping Center. Since the incident, Hess has been identified as the police officer who fatally shot Danroy "DJ" Henry, then a 20-year-old Pace University football player, who had been at a bar in the shopping center following the school's …

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D.J. Henry's Family Files New Suit Against Mount Pleasant and Two Officers

The complaint alleges that police officers Kevin Gilmartin and Officer Ronald Gagnon neither checked on or sought treatment for the Easton native who had just been shot by Pleasantville police Officer Aaron Hess.

A second lawsuit against police officers who responded to reports of a crowd outside a Thornwood bar and shot an Easton native attending Pace University  will be filed in federal court Oct. 12.  Aaron Hess, a Pleasantville police officer, killed D.J. Henry on Oct. 17, 2010, shooting him from the hood of Henry's car as Henry was driving. He was not indicted by a Westchester County Grand Jury; the family filed a wrongful death lawsuit. The U.S. Justice Department is also investigating. Michael Sussman, attorney for the Henry family, said the story coming out through depositions for the first lawsuit, which was filed against Hess and his employer the village of Pleasantville, drew a very different picture than that described by police right …

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Mount Pleasant Police Officer Says Hess Was 'Aggressor' in DJ Henry Case

Ronald Beckley, who also fired his weapon the night DJ Henry was shot and killed by Police Officer Aaron Hess, said in a deposition last week that he was aiming at Hess and described him to be the 'aggressor.' Beckley also said he shot Hess in the knee.

  Mount Pleasant Police Officer Ronald Beckley, the second officer to fire his weapon the night of Easton native DJ Henry's death, said during his deposition in federal court last week that he fired his gun to stop Pleasantville police officer Aaron Hess, who he felt was the "aggressor." "I was shooting at a person that I thought was the aggressor and was inflicting deadly physical force on another," Beckley told Michael Sussman, who deposed him as part of a civil suit filed by the Henry family against Hess and the Village of Pleasantville, NY. Hess, a Pleasantville Police Officer, shot and killed Henry on Oct. 17, 2010 outside a bar in Pleasantville as Henry was driving in his vehicle. He was not indicted by a Westchester County Grand …

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DJ Henry's Father: Contradicting Accounts of Son's Death Reveal Lack of Justification

The release of Aaron Hess' deposition Thursday shows disparities in witness accounts, DJ Henry's father Danroy Henry Sr. Says.

Danroy Henry Sr., the father of Easton native DJ Henry - who was shot and killed by New York Police Officer Aaron Hess Oct. 17, 2010 -  said that the standards of justification for his son's death are being lowered by contradicting statements made by witnesses and Hess himself. "If you allege that a wrong was committed that required the use of deadly force to stop, and if what you allege then is proven to be false then the standard that would apply to justify the taking of that life turns into a lesser one," Henry said. Henry, along with his lawyer Michael Sussman, spoke with the media on a conference call Friday - a day after the transcript Hess' deposition given in Federal Court was released to the public. Hess was grilled by Sussman as …

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Shooting Officer: I Thought DJ Henry's Car Would Stop

Shooting Pleasantville Police Officer Aaron Hess gave a deposition in federal court.

Pleasantville, NY Police Officer Aaron Hess was grilled in federal court this month as part of the ongoing lawsuits filed by multiple parties following the death of Pace University student and Easton native Danroy "DJ" Henry on Oct. 17, 2010 in Thornwood. "I believed it was going to stop because every other vehicle I've asked to stop in my career has stopped," Hess told Michael Sussman, the attorney for Henry's parents, Angella and Danroy Sr. of Easton. Hess, who appeared at the White Plains U.S. courthouse for the closed-door deposition beginning on August 14, confirmed to Sussman that the only other statement he had given to date following the shooting was to the Pleasantville's Police Benevolent Association (PBA) attorney John Grant. A …

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New York Officer Who Shot DJ Henry Questioned in Federal Court

DJ Henry family's attorney questioned Aaron Hess Tuesday.

Pleasantville, NY Police Officer Aaron Hess appeared in federal court in White Plains for the first time to give a deposition in the civil lawsuit filed against him by the family of Danroy "DJ" Henry, an Easton native. "It's the first time we heard his story told by him," said Danroy Henry Sr., DJ's father, who was present for the proceedings today with his wife, Angella. Henry added that it is part of a legal process related to the lawsuit. Michael Sussman, the attorney representing Henry's parents in a civil lawsuit against Hess, as well as the Village of Pleasantville and Town of Mount Pleasant, questioned the police officer—who has not been active since the shooting—today. Sussman spoke about the case on a conference call with the …

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New York Police Officer Who Shot DJ Henry to Give Deposition

Henry family lawyer Michael Sussman will have the opportunity to question Pleasantville, NY Police Officer Aaron Hess Tuesday in White Plains, N.Y.

  For the first time since Easton native DJ Henry was shot and killed by a New York police officer nearly two years ago, the Henry family lawyer will have an opportunity to question the man who did the shooting. Aaron Hess, the Pleasantville, NY police officer who shot and killed DJ Henry on Oct. 17, 2010, will be the first to give deposition for a civil lawsuit filed by the family. "It’s a case I’ve spent a great deal of time and energy on and I think for good reason," Henry family attorney Michael Sussman said on a conference call Friday afternoon. "And, it’s very, very important that we understand from his perspective what he did, and what he didn’t do, and why he did what he did." DJ Henry, a football player at Pace University and …

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Federal Judge to Allow Motions in Lawsuits Against Aaron Hess

The attorney of the police officer who shot DJ Henry will still seek a dismissal of charges.

At a pre-motion conference in federal court today, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas granted Brian Sokoloff, the attorney for Pleasantville Police Officer Aaron Hess, the opportunity to file for a dismissal of all charges against his client within the next 30 days. Seven peers of Danroy "DJ" Henry—the Pace University student and Easton native who was shot to death by police at the Thornwood Shopping Center on Oct. 17, 2010—have filed lawsuits against Hess, along with the case's associated municipalities and several local officials. Joseph Romanick, Daniel Parker, Desmond Hinds, Rebecca Gallo, Joseph Garcia and Yves Delpeche all appeared in court for the proceedings today and stood alongside their attorney Bonita Zelman for press statements…

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Muscato's Musings

Danroy Henry And Trayvon Martin

We All Need To Work And To Care About Making Sense Of All Of This

  It was back in the spring of 1999, maybe a week or so after the shooting massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado.  I was with a friend at the restaurant Pier 4 in Boston, to attend an event at which former Secretary of the Navy, Jim Webb, was speaking, and which he would also sign copies of his new novel, The Emperor’s General.  Jim Webb is what you call as standup as standup can be:  accomplished, honorable, courageous, and very smart.   I admire him tremendously.  At the time of the event at Pier 4, his career was that of a successful filmmaker and author.  He was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and had gone on to  the Marine Corps, and on to Vietnam where he became a highly decorated combat leader.  Today, Jim Webb is a U.S…

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