Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey calls for reopening of investigation into killing of Danroy ‘DJ’ Henry Jr. after family claimed senator ‘didn’t act’

Danroy 'D.J.' Henry

A candle is held for Danroy "DDJ" Henry during a vigil at the Henry's neighborhood in Easton, Mass., Monday, Oct. 17, 2011. Henry, a 20-year-old Pace University student, was fatally shot by a New York police officer on Oct. 17, 2010 outside a bar in Thornwood, N.Y., just north of New York City. (Charles Krupa/AP)

Sen. Ed Markey this week called on the federal government to reopen an investigation into the police killing of a Black 20-year-old college student in New York a decade ago after the man’s family claimed the Massachusetts Democrat “did not act” to help them and used the term “colored” in a conversation.

Danroy “DJ” Henry, Jr., a football player and junior at Pace University in New York, was fatally shot by a police officer in Mount Pleasant, New York in October 2010.

The policeman, Officer Aaron Hess, has yet to be charged for killing Henry and was cleared of wrongdoing in 2011. Henry’s family has been fighting for years to have his case be reopened.

In a letter written in 2014, Markey and other legislators in Massachusetts called on then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a comprehensive review of Henry’s death.

However, in a video posted to Twitter on Monday, Danroy Henry Sr., father of Danroy Henry Jr., claimed that when he and his wife went to Markey 10 years ago, the senator did nothing to help them. The couple was living in Easton, Massachusetts at the time.

“We simply asked you the same thing we asked the other elected officials in the state of Massachusetts and New York at the time, but unfortunately, senator, you were the only one who didn’t act,” Danroy Henry Sr. said in the video. “Not only did you not act in any way, but we felt like you were just dismissing us, using even the term ‘colored’ in the conversation.”

The only thing Markey offered Henry that day was lunch, he claimed.

“And to that point, it’s been 10 years, and we’ve never heard one thing from your office. To this day, even as you know we’re trying to reopen our son’s case in New York, we haven’t heard a word from your office, offering advice, counsel, encouragement - nothing,” Henry said.

Henry said he was “struck” while watching one of Markey’s reelection campaign advertisements Tuesday. The ad said the senator stands up for people and that he is a leader in the fight for justice.

“If you truly are a champion for change, if you’re on the right side of social justice issues, act that way when the cameras aren’t on you. We could use your help. Get engaged now,” Henry said.

In a statement, the Massachusetts senator said he apologized to the Henry family and pledged his complete support to them to take action on the case.

“I am fully at their disposal, and hope to work with them,” he said.

Four Black community leaders and elected officials in Massachusetts, including Springfield City Council President Justin Hurst and Worcester City Councilor Khrystian King, lambasted Markey in a statement about the allegations against him.

“D.J. Henry was a loving son, brother, friend and teammate who had his best days ahead of him. He was also a Black man. And as a Black man, he was unjustly targeted and murdered by a police officer,” the statement said. “His family deserved justice then and they deserve it now. And when Senator Markey had an opportunity to use his power, platform and privilege to help a Massachusetts family that had just lost their son, he chose to do nothing.”

The Associated Press reported that Hess shot Henry through his car windshield on Oct. 17, 2010, as the 20-year-old man drove away from a fight that spilled out of a bar in Thornwood, New York.

Hess alleged he was struck by Henry’s car and had no choice but to fire at the driver to stop the car, according to the Associated Press’s reporting.

Contradicting Hess’s claims, another Mount Pleasant policeman, Officer Ronald Beckley, said in federal court in 2012 that he believed Hess was “the aggressor” in the shooting, according to another Associated Press report.

A petition on Change.org that has more than 311,000 signatures also claims Henry was not involved in the fight and was parked outside of the bar when he was asked to move by Hess. The petition says Henry complied, but the police officer still shot him.

Markey penned another letter to the U.S. Department of Justice and prosecutors in New York on Tuesday, demanding that they “take immediate action to conduct a renewed, thorough and transparent investigation into the death of Danroy ‘DJ’ Henry, Jr.”

He argued that new evidence has emerged in the years since Henry’s killing that call for a closer reexamination of the case.

The senator pointed to Beckley’s claims, which contradicted Hess’s allegations that Henry instigated the confrontation that led to his death.

Also, as part of a $6 million settlement with the Henry family in 2017, the town of Mount Pleasant offered a public apology in which it expressed regret for “any statements made on its behalf ... before the events of October 17, 2010 were fully investigated and the underlying facts understood.”

Officials later acknowledged that its previous “statements do not fully or fairly represent the events of that early morning,” Markey said.

“In light of these facts and principles, I strongly urge each of you to utilize your respective powers as law enforcement officials to reopen DJ’s case to ensure that justice is done for the Henry family,” the senator wrote in the letter.

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