D.J. Henry's family has reached a $6 million settlement following the death of their son nearly six years ago. Danroy D.J. Henry Jr., an African-American football player at Pace University was fatally shot by a white New York police officer in 2010. The settlement ends the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Henry's family against Aaron Hess.
The grand jury decided not to indict Hess, the police officer who shot Henry because they cannot determine intentional wrongdoing, Boston Globe reports. Despite the settlement, Henry's family has an existing lawsuit filed against the Mount Pleasant and several officers. The family alleged that the plaintiffs failed to attend to Henry's injuries and left the victim on the ground with gunshot wounds. Henry's friend who was with him in the car during the time has also a pending lawsuit. Examinations revealed that Henry was shot when he pulled his car into a fire lane.
"The Henrys have been clear from the beginning that no monetary settlement could ever replace the deep loss of their beloved son D.J. While this aspect of their lawsuit has now been resolved, they will continue to deal with their deep loss by focusing on faith, family, and the important work of the DJ Henry Dream Fund, which has provided opportunities for thousands of young people and will continue to do so," the Henry's family lawyer Michael Sussman said, according to CNN.
"Our life has been a life of protest, from October 2010 until now," Danroy Henry Sr., DJ's father, told CNN affiliate WCVB in 2014.
As reported by KTVZ, the investigation of Henry's case closed last April. The killing of Henry just like the deaths of Michael Brown in in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York has sparked a national outcry. Henry's family led by Danroy Henry Sr. has argued the police's account that his son hit an officer with his vehicle. Henry's father told WCVB that time that his son didn't hit anybody. After the settlement, Henry's family is still pursuing several lawsuits.
"It very much continues," said Sussman. "This sort of situation, you don't recover from it. I know that it seems, 'Well, it's 5 ½ years later.' But (his parents) live in the same home, they have two other children. They shared 20 years' worth of experiences with DJ. They had tremendous hopes for DJ and his future. So, it doesn't work that way. It's not the way the world really works."
