Danroy Henry Jr.

Danroy “DJ” Henry Jr., 20, a Pace University football player, was shot and killed by Pleasantville, New York Police Officer Aaron Hess on October 17, 2010, in a shopping center parking lot after officers responded to a bar disturbance following Pace's homecoming game. Henry was driving away in his car when Hess, on foot, ended up on the hood of the vehicle and fired through the windshield, saying he feared for his life; Henry's family disputed that account, saying Hess ran into the car's path. A Westchester County grand jury found no reasonable cause for an indictment in March 2011. The U.S. Department of Justice separately investigated and announced in 2015 that it would bring no federal civil rights charges. In 2023, more than a decade later, Westchester's District Attorney's office reopened the case as part of an independent review and again concluded there was no legal basis to prosecute. No one has ever been charged in Henry's death.

Thornwood, NY · Westchester County County

• 2010: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The shooting and Henry's death in the Thornwood shopping center parking lot, per Westchester County and federal investigation records.
• Officer Aaron Hess acknowledged through his attorney that he fired the shots that killed Henry, stating he was on the hood of Henry's moving car and feared for his life.
• A second officer, Ronald Beckley of the Mount Pleasant police, also fired at the vehicle, apparently striking the hood.
• A Westchester County grand jury found no reasonable cause for an indictment in March 2011, under then-District Attorney Janet DiFiore.
• U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced in 2015 that the evidence did not meet the exacting standard of criminal intent required for federal civil rights charges, following the DOJ's own investigation.
• In 2023, Westchester District Attorney Miriam Rocah's office conducted an independent review of past police-involved deaths, including Henry's, and again concluded there was no legal basis to bring the case to a new grand jury.
• Henry's family filed a $120 million federal lawsuit against the towns of Mount Pleasant and Pleasantville.

• Whether Henry's car in fact struck Officer Hess before he fired, as Hess's attorney stated and prosecutors found credible, or whether Hess moved into the car's path, as the family's attorney alleged, was never resolved at trial since no charges were ever filed.
• Witness accounts of the sequence of events differed sharply and were never reconciled through any adversarial court proceeding.
• The specific new evidence or analysis, if any, that Westchester's 2023 independent review considered beyond the original 2011 and 2015 findings has not been made fully public.

• ABC7 New York — “Prosecutor: No civil rights charges in police shooting of Pace football player”
• CBS News — “Danroy Henry Update: No Indictment in Police Killing of N.Y. College Football Player”
• WATD 95.9 FM — “Westchester DA Says No Charges Will Be Submitted To Grand Jury In Death Of DJ Henry” (2023)
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs