Vigil Held For Pace U. Student Killed In Police-Involved Shooting

October 17, 2010 11:45 PM

A vigil was held at Pace University for slain student DJ Henry, who was killed in a police-involved shooting on Oct. 17, 2010.

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WESTCHESTER, N.Y. (CBS 2/ 1010 WINS/AP) — A vigil was held for slain student DJ Henry on Pace University’s Pleasantville campus Sunday night.

Henry was killed in a police-involved shooting at a Westchester bar early Sunday morning.

Gunfire erupted outside Finnegan’s Grill in Mount Pleasant as police checked out reports of a brawl involving dozens of young people shortly before 1:30 a.m.

Police said they approached a car parked in a fire lane. When an officer knocked on the car window, the driver sped off. An officer tried stopping the vehicle but it accelerated and he ended up on the hood. As the vehicle passed by, another officer was hit by the car.

Vigil Held For Pace U. Student Killed In Police Involved Shooting

Police investigate the fatal bar shooting. (credit: CBS 2)

Mt. Pleasant Police Chief Louis Alagno said 20-year-old Danroy “DJ” Henry was behind the wheel, CBS 2′s Tony Aiello reported.

Henry allegedly struck several cops as he drove away. Police said a Pleasantville officer tried to stop him and ended up on the hood clinging for his life. That officer along with a second cop opened fire and Henry was killed.

In suburban Boston, Henry’s family was filled with grief and anxious for answers.

“He was so quiet, such a good kid, just wanted to be a football player, good grades in school, I don’t understand how something like this could happen,” Henry’s aunt Kathy Hanson said.

And there was a similar reaction from students at the Pace campus in Pleasantville.

“Great kid man, never hurt nobody, excellent athlete, talented kid, loved music, loved football, loved everything, it’s a shame,” Nate Ford, a Pace University student said.

“DJ is one of the most peaceful guys on the team…I’ve seen practices or I’ve seen things escalate on campus, DJ would be one of the people like ‘”I’m going to remove myself from this situation, this is not me,’” Kevin Talbot said.

“Why? That’s the only thing you can ask, is why,” Pace student Phil Pierre said.

Danroy "DJ" Henry (Photo/Facebook)

“We extend the deepest sympathies of our community to Mr. Henry’s family and friends.,” Pace University, which was celebrating homecoming weekend, said in a statement.

Police said they were responding to a call about a large fight that had broken out in the area. When officers arrived, they observed a “large group of unruly patrons” that had gathered in the parking lot in front of the bar, according to a police statement.

Alagno said the fighting continued even after the shots rang out. Eventually, it took about 50 officers from nearby departments to get the scene under control.

The statement also said that were two others also in the suspect’s car who were also shot. They were both transported to Westchester Medical Center. Two police officers were treated for physical injuries and two others were treated for trauma, according to the statement.

“I’m surprised this is a peaceful area, I’ve been here three years, I’ve never seen it happen before,” said store manager Mike Annabi.

Mount Pleasant police are planning another news conference Monday morning at 10 a.m.

JasonS

Mike Parks, you are an idiot. If someone tried to run over a group of armed British cops, are you telling me they wouldn’t have done the same thing? I know this is going to REALLY shock you, but shooting tires out doesn’t stop a car and is pretty much pointless in a situation in which someone’s life is in danger because they’re on the hood of the car.

As a recent immigrant to NY from England, you are no doubt as of yet unacquainted with the severity and frequency of “urban” crime here, these thugs will routinely kill each other – and innocent bystanders – over the most trivial issues. I will give you approximately 2 years of observing the daily news flow in New York before you come to the conclusion that in fact it’s a miracle that the cops don’t discharge their weapons more than they do.

ee

how dare you call someone’s child, their dead child, a thug? No one is saying that he made the right decision to try to leave but have some respect. You know nothing about him, so try not commenting on his character or so called “urban” crime. Take a second to stop kissing the cops’ butts because if it had been your relative that you had to now bury, you wouldn’t be so quick to pass judgment.

rebate

http://www.kriegsview.com all i can say is you must see for yourself.
JasonS

Let’s shed a little common sense on the issue here. Why on earth would cops open fire at a car, in front of hundreds of witnesses, for no reason, and then lie and say that the cop was on the hood?

They have no motive whatsoever to do so, in fact shooting into a car that was, er, supposedly just driving off peacefully, would amount to first degree murder, to suggest that cops are going to do this in front of a crowd of witnesses is just plain stupid.

The cops had good reason to shoot this kid. He is not a “fine upstanding member of the community,” he tried to run over a cop, just like the crack dealer Sean Bell. I have no doubt that there will be witnesses who will clear this up, as well as security camera footage of some sort. The usual cop haters will say anything to whip up anger.
mark

At least he won’t have any more chances to kill any more cops while using his car as a dangerous weapon.

ee

you’re an insensitive, poor excuse for a human.

Mike Parks

As a recent immigrant to NY from England, I have to say your Police seem far to quick to shoot their weapons. This wasn’t a gang fight at a crack den, this seems to have been a group of students making a stupid decision. Another young life wasted – couldn’t they have shot out the tyres – if they really needed to discharge their weapons????
J

I don’t see how the officer could have been clinging onto his hood at a time when he should have been killed upon impact if the car speeding towards him hit him. Something sounds fishy to me.???
Educate

Not true Deb. There is a difference between facts and reports. I think investigations are done for facts, reports can be done by me or you. Tell me again how an officer clinging to a hood can get his gun out of the holster and fire multiple accurate shots in a moving vehicle? Sounds unbelievable.

Deb

Educate, according to more than a dozen eye witness reports, it happened that way. PS, my husband was one of the officers at the scene after the shooting, therefore, I know my facts. JasonS, thank you for your statement, I could not have said it better. May god watch over the family of this man and grant them peace.

We Want The Truth

Your husband was there AFTER the shooting, not during. There was no cop “Hanging off the hood”. THis is just BS they’re saying to make it look justified. I was there and mine and atleast 15 other eyewitness reports completely conflict what the cops are saying happened. Why are none of these reports being released. Seems fishy to me if you ask

Educate

Let’s be respectful and not demonize anyone with the information from this poorly reported and slanted story. The kid was fatally wounded before the cop was hit by the car. He was not running down police.

Deb

Educate, you are correct that the incident has been poorly reported, but the facts of the story are that the officer was on the hood of the car, the car was moving and then the officer fired into the car to make the driver stop.

STFU

ex cop– its very humane of you calling a dead college student a moron, clearly you are the moron and need to get a clue.
KL

To clear up the story for all these blog posts and ‘jason’, this kid was not drunk and did not purposely run over the police officers. Maybe he shouild of made a better decision instead trying to leave the scene and just answered what the cop had to say. But this kid was far from a thug or an individual who would do something like this. Yes, alcohol was involved, yes the situation got really out of control after the first fight occured, but he was simply trying to leave the scene after the situation escalated. But for the record, the whole Pace community is mourning this lost. So please show a little sympathy for him and his family and the officers who were also hurt in this tragedy.
poet

shoulda slammed on the breaks then floored it again
ex cop

hey bob and property tax payer were you both there? No? I didn’t think so. So shut the hell up and get a clue. If the college morons knew how to behave and not act the jersey shore morons this would not have happened. Thats the problem this society gives praise to the morons by giving them a tv show and paying them lots of money to get drunk and act like aholes. Maybe you and taxpayer should get your own reality show. MORONS.

Property Taxpayer

Funny thing is I agree with nearly 100% of this. I didn’t ever imply that this was a bad shoot. I merely suggested that perhaps some slightly different action by ANY of the people involved could have prevented it. Including the kid and the cops. And forgive me for suspecting there might be a Keystone Kops element to this story, That was probably somewhat premature.
bill

hey ex cop “were you there? no? so shut the hell up”…u dnt think wen u talk do you?…you know nothing so go back to in the corner dumb fool

Rene

CBS New’s quality has taken a nose dive. They are more about advertising than reporting. This page refreshes before you have time to write a comment. There is so much more to this story. Someone is dead and this poor reporting leads to confusion, supposition, and rumor. What happened to the time when a reporter would be proud of their work? You fire your best reporters to save a buck and replace them with novices or automatons. Where is the follow up on this. Someone is dead.
bob

That’s the problem with these little Barney Fife towns. A fight breaks out and they reach for their guns. One cop shots and then they all start shooting.

jason

How about the idiot kid who drove drunk and injured an officer

ee

Funny, i didn’t see you there. He wasn’t even drinking, you moron. He was probably terrified that he was going to jail fo a fight he wasn’t involved in. Shut up about things you know nothing about.

Deb

Bob, most people who live in “Barney Fife towns” choose to do so because we wish our children to grow up with a sense of fairness and morals that are usually missing from most cities. As for the shooting, it is a tragedy that a life has been taken, but make no mistake this was not a child behind the wheel, but an adult. He chose to hit a police officer, then continue driving his car with the officer clinging to the hood of his car. Would you prefer the officer to let go, then fall in front of the moving car? It is a senseless tragedy, but there were choices being made last night. Danroy Henry (the individual’s name) made a rather bad choice and his life ended, but let us not forget that the officer also made a choice and he has to live the rest of his life knowing he ended a life, even if it was to possibly save someone elses. Next time you choose to disparage an incident you know nothing about, please take the time to consider all individuals involved.

Steve

MORNIC STATEMENTS bt PROPOERTY TAXPAYER – After a drunk driver attempts to kill several police with his speeding 2 ton weapon, they simply wave him by and let him go on this merry way. DUMB STATEMENTS! WHO KNOWS HOW MANY MORE PEOPLE HE WOULD HAVE MOWED DOWN ON HIS WAY BACK TO CAMPUS! SO STUPID!!!!!

Property Taxpayer

guess you didn’t read the rest.

Property Taxpayer

Wow, this sounds eerily similar to the Sean Bell case. The one thing that sticks with me after things like this is that if the Police weren’t there, everyone would still be alive. There would have been a fight to be sure and potentially some injury but no deaths. Maybe just let the guy drive away and catch him later. It’s not like there’s not a ton of cops in the area. I’m sure they had his plate number at that point. He’s a Pace student, where’s he gonna go? I guess I wouldn’t like it if he drunk drove into my kids and I’d be asking why the cops hadn’t stopped him. He of course could have just taken his DWI and spent the night in jail like an adult. Plenty of blame to go around it sounds like. And plenty of tragedy and pain. Prayers to everyone.

amen

Well, given that the cop who shot him was trying to stay alive while rolling around on the hood of the car right after being hit, they really couldn’t wait until he drove away. But keep making up stuff like this off the top of your head, we’re listening….
Pace Student- RIP DJ

I AGREE!!! would it have been so bad to let the guy drive away rather than trying to block the car??? or is it more important to kill a person rather than letting them get away. and I agree with AR too… i’m caucasian but i know as well that if it was some white girl in the vehicle oppose to a black guy there’s no way in hell they would’ve shot her. there were a million other things they could’ve done aside from that. and they chose to kill as so many cops in New York love to do. this just happened to a kid a week ago, and of course we can’t forget Sean Bell which is exactly like this situation. God bless his soul!

Jen

Acutally, it was a Pleasantville cop who shot, after he was hit and was stuck on the hood of the speeding car that was not planning on stopping.
JERRY COLLADO

WAS THIS REPORTER INVISIBLE…THIS REALLY HAPPENED??? NO NAMES…POOREST REPORT EVER…REPORTER SHOULD GO TO PACE U FOR SOME SCHOOLING
Property Taxpayer

Was this the Mount Pleasant PD that did the shooting? Based on their abysmal botching of the Kristie Fischer case, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this was caused by them in some way. Time will tell I guess. Prepare for the inevitable stonewalling which will surely commence.
Jen

Sounds like the police officers that were mowed down by this idiotic kid were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I feel for ALL the families including the officers mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands and children that have to worry everytime they leave for work that they may have to intervene when a MORON gets behind the wheel drunk and decides to use his vehicle as a WEAPON!

former pace student

first of all he wasnt drunk.. get ur facts straight

KermitBlows

Hey Kermit, Dont blame the cops, blame the animals that caused the cops to be called over there in the first place. If you animals knew how to behave and act like humans instead of savages, this poor boy would still be alive. The cops have a tough job and every day when I see one, I thank them for putting themselves in harms way whenever we call 911. If you dont like it… go move to another country.

jason

It should have been Kermit

dee

Seems like everyone knows information except the reporter.
peter

The dead suspect struck multiple cops with his vehicle, and was accelerating while another cop was on the hood, and then struck a police car.
NLO

How were you able to place blame on the cop? Were you there? Maybe you should talk to the P.D. and help clear things up!!!
kermit

this is tragic, and i blame the lack of information on the police involvement. no one wants to say that the cop made a mistake and killed an amazing person that wasn’t even involved in the fight that was going on. i hope this is thoroughly investigated and the officer responsible suffers the consequences of his actions. My heart aches for his friends and family.

a

My father works for the Pleasantvile PD and I know the officer who shot the student. If it happened to be my dad who was clinging onto that windshield, I would have wanted him to do whatever he had to do in order to protect himself and his fellow officers. The officer did what he had to do so don’t blame him. This kid obviously has some issues if he tried to run over officers who were just doing their job. I pray for all the families involved.

Ant

I agree
former pace student

shutup
ar

you’re an idiot. there’s no need to KILL someone and he wasn’t even driving fast. were you there?? of course yoru DAD is going to tell you a nice story. cops cover for eachother all the time. if it was some white girl in that car you & i both know they wouldn’t have shot her four times. lets be real about it.
People

Well hes still wrong,,he needs to be tried , and if found guily, be sent to prison,,thats “THE LAW”..if its good for us then it should be good for them…

BmoreFuzz

That’s Monday morning quarterback speculation Kermit. Cops want to stay alive like everyone else and end their shift free of injuries. Article clearly states that several cops were hit by DJ’s vehicle resulting in 4 being injured, 2 of them for trauma.

This wasn’t a Steven Segal movie brother so stop trying to sell that “us versus them” perspective. Blame the drunk disorderly animals fighting at that bar for causing a 50 Officer response at that signal 13 melee you ignorant moron.