Deposed Pleasantville Officer Claims Henry's Car was not Going to Stop in Police Killing of Black College Student

From [HERE] and [HERE] A white Pleasantville police officer who fatally shot 20-year-old Danroy Henry, a black college student, said he yelled for the car to stop, but that it kept coming. Officer Aaron Hess said in a deposition that he had to lunge on top of the car to avoid being run over, and that he fired into the car to stop the driver.

White prosecutors deicided not to prosecute Hess after a grand jury cleared him in the October 2010 death of Henry, a Pace University student and football player from Easton, Mass. Henry's family has filed a civil suit against Hess. The deposition was taken earlier in August as part of that suit, and the transcript was released by their attorney on Thursday.

Hess was one of several officers who responded to a bar brawl on Oct. 17, 2010. Henry, 20, and two friends were idling in a car nearby when police told them to move their car. Hess claimed Henry peeled away and struck him with the car, but some witnesses and Henry's family contend Henry was just obeying police instructions to move the car. Hess and Officer Ronald Beckley fired on Henry, the driver. The passenger in the car, Brandon Cox, told authorities that Henry slowed down before he was shot by police. [MORE] According to witness testimony, Henry was handcuffed and placed on the sidewalk, where he lay dying. He was left on the street for 15 minutes without any medical attention. [MORE]

As an insult to injury Hess was honored in April 2011 as Officer of the Year by the mostly white Pleasantville Police Benevolent Association. Officers also objected to the Henry family raising money on behalf of Danroy. [HERE] 

Aaron Hess said he didn’t move out of the way of Danroy Henry’s car as it sped toward him “because I thought the vehicle was going to stop.”

“I believed it was going to stop because every other vehicle I’ve asked to stop in my career have stopped,” Hess said, according to a transcript released today of his deposition in a federal lawsuit.

Prompted by another officer who shouted for him to “stop that car,” Hess stepped in front of the vehicle. He, too, shouted “stop,” unholstered his gun and pointed it at the Pace University football player’s car.

“As the vehicle was approaching, I put up my left hand, yelled for the vehicle to stop,” Hess said. “By the time I realized that the vehicle wasn’t going to stop, I didn’t have a chance to go left, right, and if I stood on the balls of my feet, I was going to be run over. So as the vehicle was coming towards me, I lunged forward as it hit my legs. At that time, as I was on the hood, the engine revved up again.”

Hess said he believed Henry was trying to throw him off the car. He never saw Henry’s face, but said he fired at “center mass” of the silhouette in the driver’s seat.

“At that time is when I, I fired my weapon,” he testified.

The officer’s sworn testimony came during five hours of questioning by lawyer Michael Sussman, who is representing Henry’s family in a lawsuit against Hess, Pleasantville and Westchester County. Sussman shared the transcript, which represents Hess’s first publicly released statements on the fatal shooting of Oct. 17, 2010.

Henry had just left Finnegan’s Grill, where he was celebrating homecoming with friends. A crowd was cleared from the bar, bringing the cops to the scene.

The 20-year-old was driving from a fire zone when Hess stepped in front of the car to stop him. The officer has said through a lawyer that he fired to protect himself and others who were in the vehicle’s path.

In the deposition, Hess testified that he was thrown to the pavement as Henry, who was later found to have been intoxicated, crashed into a police cruiser. The officer, who suffered a severe knee injury, said that he got his first look at Henry when both were on the ground.

Henry, of Easton, Mass., had been pulled from his Nissan. Hess testified that the first time he saw Henry, the young man was lying alone on the pavement in handcuffs. At some point, Hess told a woman at his side to go to Henry “because I observed that he was laying face down, not moving.”

Sussman said the testimony largely vindicates the family’s position that the shooting was reckless and unjustified, while the dead student’s father, Danroy Henry Sr., called Hess’s deposition “damning.”

The deposition, taken at federal court in White Plains on Aug. 14, was attended by various lawyers, Henry’s family and several of Henry’s friends who are involved in related civil rights lawsuits against the county, Mount Pleasant, Pleasantville and several police officers.

A Westchester County grand jury cleared officers of any criminal wrongdoing.

Brian Sokoloff, Hess’s lawyer in the federal lawsuit, said he

A Westchester County grand jury cleared officers of any criminal wrongdoing.

Brian Sokoloff, Hess’s lawyer in the federal lawsuit, said he has no comment on the deposition. The interview was videotaped, but Sussman did not share it.