No Indictment For Cops In Pace Shooting: Westchester DA

A grand jury found there was 'no reasonable cause' to indict

A Westchester County grand jury has concluded its investigation into the police shooting death of Pace University football player Danroy Henry Jr. and has found "no reasonable cause" for an indictment, the district attorney said.

The attorney for the family, Michael Sussman, said the lack of an indictment "sends a clear message to every single parent who has a young person of color at college to be very afraid."

Henry, 20, was shot and killed when police fired at his car as he drove away from a bar in Mount Pleasant. Police had been called to a disturbance after the Pace homecoming game.

Henry's family, of Easton, Mass., had demanded a murder indictment against the officer who acknowledged shooting Henry. The young man's father, Danroy Henry Sr., said Monday that the family did not believe Westchester authorities did their job, and vowed to push the Justice Department to look into the case.

"We firmly believe that we have a good handle on what happened that night," Henry said. "And frankly if I presented the evidence without a law degree and just a little bit of intelligence, I could have gotten an indictment."

The Westchester County District Attorney's office said in a statement that the grand jury's investigation included testimony from 85 witnesses and a review of more than 100 exhibits such as aerial photographs, ballistics evidence and surveillance film.

The four police officers who responded to the initial disturbance call also testified, including Officer Aaron Hess, the officer who fired the fatal bullets.

A lawyer for Hess has said Henry's car hit Hess, threw him onto the hood and kept going. Other witnesses contradicted that account.

Henry's mother, Angela, said "There's plenty of video that shows police officers with their guns drawn, pointing them at unarmed college students. That in itself should be enough for someone to say this is not proper training. This can't happen. We're here to show you that this fight has just begun. We're not stopping. We will fight for number 12, our son."

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