Danroy Henry’s Parents Don’t Want to Turn Son’s Death Into Racial Issue
By Ruth Manuel-Logan on Oct 22nd 2010 11:52AM
According to police reports, Henry, who played football for the university, was struck by a haze of gunfire. The 20-year-old, who was the designated driver, was waiting for friends outside in the bar’s parking lot in the wee hours of October 17th. The young man, who has been praised as being an “exemplary student” with no criminal record, was accompanied by two other teammates in his vehicle and approached by police after they responded to a brawling bar fight that had broken out outside of the establishment. According to witnesses, Henry had not been a patron of the bar that fateful night.
When a policeman approached Henry’s parked vehicle, which had been standing in a fire lane to tap on his window, officers claimed he sped off, vaulting the officer on to the car’s hood. The young men were barraged with bullets from the officer on the hood and another who had tried to help his colleague off the vehicle’s hood.
The Henry’s have now hired attorney Michael Sussman who says eyewitnesses have contradicted the statements made by law enforcement.
Thus far, the family of the slain youth have stated that police have been negligent in providing them with information about their son’s case. The family has appealed to any witnesses at the scene to step forward.
Sussman says he will ask a Westchester county judge to preserve and hand over all of the hard evidence in the case and is determined to see this case through the end:
“The family wants to be involved and there will be collaborative investigations between my office and police that will contribute to the resolution of the case.”
The Henry’s, who say their beloved son was loving, empathetic and always put family first, say they do not have anti-police sentiments, but they just want the facts in the case. Danroy Henry Sr. says, “We just need to find out the truth, the absolute truth, we owe it to our son, we owe it to his legacy.”
