For more than 10 years the parents of a slain college student, Danroy “DJ” Henry, of Easton, Mass., have called for a reexamination of the circumstances surrounding his killing by a white police officer in a New York town. Now a New York district attorney has launched an independent investigation led by a former federal judge to do just that.
In the weeks following Henry’s killing in the early morning hours of Oct. 17, 2010, law enforcement officials distributed information to reporters suggesting that Henry was inebriated and that officer Aaron Hess had acted to protect himself from Henry's moving car.
Hess fired multiple times into the windshield of the car driven by Henry, who had been asked by another policeman to move his vehicle. He had been idling in a fire lane outside a nightclub in the town of Mt. Pleasant N.Y.
In February 2011, four months later, a grand jury convened by the Westchester Country District Attorney’s office did not indict Hess. The district attorney at the time — Janet DiFiore, currently New York state’s top judicial official — said the grand jury had not found a “reasonable cause” to indict.
But various affidavits and evidence presented during a subsequent civil suit contradicted the police version of events, including testimony from another local police officer, who said he believed Hess was the aggressor. Mount Pleasant policeman, Ronald Beckley admitted during his deposition that his initial statement about the circumstances of Henry’s death was fabricated by his supervising officer to provide cover for the officers.
Westchester County D. A. Miriam Rocah announced Thursday she is launching a new investigation of the case, with the assistance of retired federal judge John Gleeson. Rocah was elected in November 2020, after campaigning as a reformer on a pledge to “modernize” the Westchester DA’s office and revisit questionable cases.
Dan Henry Sr., DJ’s father, told GBH News that the independent review is a chance to undo a flawed investigation from a decade ago.
“And we simply asked then what we’re asking now. Just present the truth. Don’t alter it. Don’t doctor it. The truth is the truth," he said. "And let a jury draw conclusions based on hearing the true facts. And we feel for the first time in 10 years we have a chance for that to happen.”
DJ Henry’s mother, Angella, credits activists and young people around the country for keeping her son's memory alive.
“We’re grateful to Mimi Rocah for her courage to look into this," she said. "It gives us hope.”
The review will focus on Henry’s slaying and the manner in which the investigation was conducted.
Gleeson, separately, will also examine the death of a 68-year-old former U.S. Marine named Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., who was shot and killed by police at his home in 2011. Both cases involve Westchester County white police officers killing unarmed Black men.
Though the Henry’s accepted a $6 million settlement and a public apology in 2017 from the town of Mt. Pleasant, N.Y., they said justice was never done.
Henry Sr. said the new investigation means "that there’s a chance to undo what we know was a direct and blatant effort to cover up the murder of our son.”
There is no timetable set for the review.
