The family of Danroy Henry, Jr., the Pace University student who was shot by a Westchester police officer in 2010, will receive a $6 million settlement from the officer and the Village of Pleasantville, if the settlement is approved by a judge. This comes nearly a year after U.S. attorney Preet Bharara announced that he would not prosecute Aaron Hess, the Pleasantville cop who killed Henry in 2010.
"The Henrys have been clear from the beginning that no monetary settlement could ever replace the deep loss of their beloved son D.J.," the family's lawyer, Michael Sussman, said in a statement yesterday. "While this aspect of their lawsuit has now been resolved, they will continue to deal with their deep loss by focusing on faith, family, and the important work of the DJ Henry Dream Fund, which has provided opportunities for thousands of young people and will continue to do so."
When Bharara decided not to prosecute Hess, he said that it was because there was insufficient consistent testimony to show that Hess was acting out of racial bias or willfully violating Henry's rights when he shot the then-20-year-old outside a bar.
The only agreed-upon facts about the events leading up to Henry's death are that on October 17th, 2010, a bar in a strip mall in Thornwood, NY kicked everyone out after a fight, and police from Pleasantville, the neighboring village, and Mount Pleasant, the greater township, responded. Hess shot Henry outside the bar.
Other than that, the details of the night are disputed. According to Sussman, Henry was driving away from the bar at about 7-8 miles per hour when Hess stepped in front of the car, and a federal investigation showed that Henry was braking when he inadvertently hit Hess. Lawyers for Hess have said that he was trying to get the car to stop, but witnesses who were in the car with Henry say that no one was clearly asking Henry to stop, and that Hess stepped into the road with his gun drawn, shooting when Henry hit him. Whatever the precise series of events, Henry died from gunshot wounds.
Hess, meanwhile, won his union's "Officer of the Year" award months after the shooting, and has since retired on disability pension.
In a statement, Mayor Peter M. Scherer of Pleasantville said that "we appreciate the efforts of everyone involved to bring closure to this tragic story," but that no further public comment on the case will be made at this time.
That's because this is far from the end of the legal action taken in the aftermath of Henry's death: his parents are still pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit against the Town of Mount Pleasant and its police officers, and five of his friends, who were present during the shooting, have also filed federal suits, all of which are still pending.
