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Pleasantville Police Chief: Don't Rush To Judgment

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. (CBS 2/1010 WINS/WCBS 880/AP) -- A police chief is cautioning against a rush to judgment about either side in the shooting of a Pace University football player.

Pleasantville Police Chief Anthony Chiarlitti says it's useless to speculate about what happened on Oct. 17, when two officers fired at a moving car and 20-year-old Danroy Henry was killed.

Chiarlitti defended and stood by Officer Aaron Hess Tuesday, 1010 WINS' Glen Schuck reported.  Saying Hess wasn't a racist,  Chiarlitti noted that Hess was seriously injured in the incident and needed to have surgery, CBS 2's Lou Young reported.

LISTEN: 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck reports

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WCBS 880's Catherine Cioffi

The police chief described Hess as a trusted officer and pledged his support unless it's proved Hess did something wrong.

"Until someone demonstrates to my satisfaction that Officer Hess did something wrong, I will continue to fully support him," Chiarlitti said.

Hess is one of two officers who fired at Henry's car in an incident just outside the Pleasantville Village border in the larger town of Mount Pleasant, which is investigating the shooting.

Chiarlitti also mentioned the leak of autopsy information that showed Henry was driving drunk when he was shot. He said the information is unconfirmed and urged all community members to wait to judge Hess until all the facts come out, WCBS 880's Catherine Cioffi reported.

There is considerable anxiety that a well-liked cop could be involved in something so tragic and controversial. People don't know what to make of it.

"There's been such conflicting information given and it doesn't make sense," Katherine Kalderley said.

"The cop is a wonderful man.  The guy got married not too long ago.  I think he has kids coming, twins coming. Always did a decent job, but he never looked for trouble," Robert Hamilton said.

Mount Pleasant and Westchester County police are now in their second day of a forensic sweep of the car involved -- trying to determine which of two officers fired the fatal shot.

Reacting to the chief's comments late Tuesday, a lawyer for Henry's family renewed their call for an outside agency to investigate the incident.

(TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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