Danroy Henry’s mother ‘thrilled’ about dropped charges

Danroy Henry’s mother ‘thrilled’ about dropped charges
By Ira Kantor  |   Friday, March 25, 2011  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage

Photo by Stuart Cahill

The mother of a Pace University football player from Easton shot and killed by police outside a New York state bar welcomed the news yesterday that a judge has dropped criminal charges against four of her son’s teammates caught in the chaos of the Oct. 17 shooting.

“Clearly, we’re thrilled. We knew all along these young men were innocent and their full desire was to save our son’s life,” said Angella Henry, mother of Danroy “DJ” Henry Jr., who added that the “victory for the young men is just a step forward for us to both accountability and penalty in getting justice for our son.”

Attorney Bonita Zelman, who represents Joseph Garcia of Floral Park, N.Y., Joseph Romanick of Slidell, La., Yves Delpeche of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Daniel Parker of Lauderhill, Fla., is now planning to sue the county of Westchester, the town of Mount Pleasant and the village of Pleasantville, all of which had officers at the scene.

Zelman said he is seeking “seven figures for each of these victims,” alleging brutality, false arrest, violation of civil, constitutional and human rights, and malicious prosecution. Zelman claims video and photographic evidence proves police brut-ality as the players tried to save Henry.

“The only people out of control by way of this evidence are the police,” Zelman said. “We’re going to make a loud outcry to acts of brutality made against them. . . . Before I’m done, every cop that laid a hand on these innocent students will be brought to justice.”

Each of the players was charged with criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest or obstruction. A grand jury last month declined to indict the officer who shot Henry.

Spokeswoman for Westchester county Donna Greene and the town of Mount Plesant declined to comment. A message left with the village of Pleasantville was not returned.

Michael Hagan, president of the Westchester police union, called the claims “rid-iculous” and said the lawsuit was a “shameless attempt to have the taxpayers . . . reward them for their illegal activity.”

Westchester District Attor- ney Janet DiFiore said the charges were dismissed “in the interest of justice.”

Michael Sussman, an attorney representing Henry’s parents, who plan to file a lawsuit next month, said the charges should never have been brought. “They tried to save DJ’s life,” Sussman said.

“I think (the charges) were brought as some kind of contrivance to begin with.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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