Seven months ago, Pace University varsity football star Danroy Henry, 20, was celebrating homecoming when police officer Aaron Hess shot and killed him outside of a bar in Mount Pleasant, N.Y., a half hour north of New York City.
The Police Benevolent Association, the local union, named Hess “Officer of the Year,” the union’s highest honor for an officer at its annual awards ceremony recently.
Reportedly, union president Matthew Listwan explained that Hess was honored for “all he’s been through” and because he “hurt his knee during the incident.” In a statement, Listwan added that Hess was touched by the gesture, and “it was almost like a wedding for him.”
In a televised interview, Henry’s mother said the latest slap in the face wasn’t a surprise.
“Nothing surprises us. I think they’ve shown us how insensitive they can be,” Angela Henry said. “It magnifies their arrogance and their inhumanity.”
Henry’s little sister, Amber, added, “He killed someone. How does that make you a hero for killing someone?”
According to police, Henry was sitting in a parked car when police, responding to a nearby brawl, approached him. Henry allegedly sped off, striking three police officers and penning Hess to the hood of the moving vehicle. Hess fired into the car, striking Henry.
Several of Henry’s friends scrambled to save his life, but were arrested and charged with criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Henry was pronounced dead at the scene.
In February, a New York state grand jury declined to indict any of the police officers in the shooting.
The Henry family says eyewitnesses dispute the chain of events that led to Henry’s death, and the Department of Justice’s civil rights division is investigating the case.
Charges were dropped against Henry’s friends late last month. Bonita Zelman, attorney for the young men, is filing a seven-figure lawsuit for each. Zelman is going after the police for brutality, false arrest, violation of civil, constitutional and human rights and malicious prosecution. Also, there is photo and video evidence that proves the police brutality and misconduct, Zelman stated.
The Henry family will file a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against the village of Pleasantville and the city of Mount Pleasant. —zondra hughes
