Attorney seeks to protect evidence in Danroy Henry Jr. killing

Attorney seeks to protect evidence in Danroy Henry Jr. killing
By Laura Crimaldi  |   Friday, October 22, 2010  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage

From left, attorney Michael Sussman, Danroy Henry Jr.’s mother Angela, and father Danroy Sr. are interviewed from their home in North Easton this morning.
Photo by ABC ‘Good Morning America’ screengrab

The attorney for the family of the Pace University student from Easton who was killed on Sunday by New York police said today he is asking for a court order to preserve all evidence connected to the incident.

The parents of Danroy “D.J.” Henry Jr., 20, appeared on Good Morning America with their lawyer, Michael Sussman, who plans to ask a Westchester County judge to make sure no evidence is lost.

“We’re going to conduct an assiduous investigation,” Sussman said. “I’ve been tasked by this family to find out what happened, to get to the truth of what happened and we have for the last three days been spending literally 24/7 doing that.”

Sussman also made a plea to witnesses who might have any video or images from the chaotic scene outside Flannegan’s Grill in Thornwood, N.Y., to hand over the materials to his Goshen, N.Y. office. Mt. Pleasant police chief Louis Alagno is also asking for witnesses to come forward.

Sussman said he is in touch with Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore and plans to be “fully involved” with the probe.

Henry’s parents said they are not seeking to make their search for the truth about race or anti-police sentiment.

“We don’t want to make this a race issue. We just want the truth. We want the truth for our son,” said Angela Henry, who was wearing her son’s high school football jersey.

Henry’s father said the family does not want people coming forward who were not witnesses to Henry’s death.

“We need to have the absolute truth,” said Danroy Henry Sr. “We need to somehow come to terms to this. We can’t do that without knowing absolutely 100 percent what happened to our son, why he was killed.”

There are conflicting stories about the events leading to the shooting. Police say officers opened fire on Henry’s vehicle after he struck two officers in the parking lot. The family of Brandon Cox, 20, who was also in the car, said Henry was trying to move his vehicle out of a fire lane.

Henry will be laid to rest next week on what would have been his 21st birthday.

“He put his family first,” Angela Henry said. “He tattooed that on his wrist, ’family first’ and he put it to words. We just lived it and he put words to it and that’s how he was. Anyone who knew him could tell you that.”

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