Victim’s kin denied access to 911 tapes Man shot dead by New York police

Victim’s kin denied access to 911 tapes
Man shot dead by New York police
By Richard Weir  |   Saturday, November 13, 2010  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage

EMOTIONAL: Thulani DeMarsay, aunt of Danroy Henry Jr., wells up with tears while speaking yesterday about her nephew, who was fatally shot by New York police officers Oct. 17.
Photo by Mark Garfinkel

The father of a college football player fatally shot by police in suburban New York last month said yesterday he was disappointed by a judge’s ruling denying him and his wife access to 911 calls.

Danroy and Angella Henry of Easton had petitioned to get copies of any audio and video recordings from the Oct. 17 night that their 20-year-old son, Danroy Henry Jr., a Pace University football player, was shot and killed in his car after a disturbance outside a Thornwood, N.Y., bar near his campus.

Westchester County Judge Orazio Bellantoni barred them from accessing any 911 tapes and surveillance footage because they failed to include in their legal bid an affidavit from “someone with firsthand knowledge of the facts.”

“Unfortunately for us, the law isn’t a grieving parent, we are,” Henry said. “It doesn’t think like a grieving parent. It is what it is.”

However, Henry said, he does not view the decision as a “setback,” saying the evidence will be “known in due time.”

“Unlike evidence that is missing,” the grieving father said during a conference call held by his lawyer Michael Sussman, “evidence that could have been incredibly helpful, specifically the dash cams in the Pleasantville police cars, this evidence does exist.”

Sussman said he has obtained firsthand accounts from several witnesses to the shooting but opted not to provide them to the court, and thus make them public, because he did not want to hamper a future grand jury investigation.

“At the end of the day, it is possible that the district attorney of Westchester County will get an indictment here, and the last thing we want to do is in any way jeopardize that indictment, should it happen, and the prosecution, were it to happen,” he said.

The Westchester DA’s office opposed the Henrys’ motion, contending that the evidence must be impounded until after a grand jury wraps up its probe.

Police have defended the shooting, saying Danroy Henry Jr. sped away and struck two officers after a third cop knocked on his car window, an account disputed by some witnesses.

At a separate press conference yesterday in Dorchester, Henry’s grandfather, Wayne Dozier, and aunt, Thulani DeMarsay, along with other relatives called on the U.S. Attorney’s office to take over the investigation.

The U.S. attorney for New York’s Southern District said the office is “monitoring” the case and will launch an independent review “if appropriate.”

Lucian Chalfen, spokesman for the Westchester District Attorney, said of the Henry family’s demands for a federal probe: “We are in the midst of a wide ranging, detailed, thorough and comprehensive investigation. At its conclusion it will be presented to a grand jury and we are confident it will be a just and fair outcome.”

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