Officer Who Killed DJ Henry Absolved by Grand Jury

Grand jury proceedings examining the death of Pace University student Danroy "DJ" Henry concluded Monday, with jurors announcing that they believed the officer responsible for Henry’s death did not commit a crime. Though the Henry family and supporters held out hope they would hear otherwise, the decision ultimately came as no surprise.

“Our faith was never in DiFiore (the local District Attorney), it was in God," Mr. Henry said at a press conference. "But we were hoping she would surprise us.”

The overwhelming lack of surprise was based on the knowledge that the closed-door proceedings that had been going on for the past few weeks were tainted by close, interdependent professional relationships and couldn’t possibly result in an unbiased outcome. Mr. Henry compared it to a family investigating the guilt of their own brother, not likely to end with an indictment.

“There are no words to express our disappointment in the grand jury’s decision to issue a no true bill in the case of our son’s killing," said Mr. Henry. "While losing DJ has been tragic for our family, a compounding tragedy is the reality that this grand jury result is most certainly the result of a process not designed to tell the truth but, rather, to minimize the civil and criminal liability of agencies involved in his death.”

The family’s attorney, Michael Sussman, states there is no way for such grand juries to be unbiased when the DA is so obviously not pursuing an indictment. He points to hostility directed towards witnesses both immediately following the tragic shooting and during the investigation stage as evidence the local authorizes were more concerned with taking the heat off their own than uncovering the truth.

Although the proceedings were secretive and the Henry family and their attorney had no idea what precisely was or was not presented in front of the grand jury, they are aware of several problems in addition to the secrecy. For example, despite DJ’s friend Brandon being present in the vehicle at the time of the shooting death, and despite him seeing DJ and the officer’s actions at a vantage closer than anyone else, he was not called to testify. Sussman was told by the DA’s office that Brandon would have “nothing relevant to say."

Sussman, speaking on a topic avoided by the Henry family themselves, says people are kidding themselves if they think race isn't playing a role in this case. Before going in to testify last week, Mr. Henry was warned not to talk too much about DJ or his character. But while the proceedings were designed to find fact, not be swayed by emotion, nothing more could speak to DJ’s lack of culpability in his own death than his character in life. He wasn’t a fugitive fleeing from police; he was moving his car as instructed by a police officer.

Now the family looks to the Justice Department in hopes it will revisit the case. Prior to the local grand jury decision, the Henry family was told the feds would wait for the local proceedings to run their course before determining whether their involvement was necessary. It’s obvious now that it is. Call on Attorney General Eric Holder to open an investigation into the police murder of DJ Henry. Also ask that officials at the state level speak out against the apparent disregard for justice in Westchester County.

Photo Credit: Henry family