Jay-Z and Rihanna are among the list of famous names who are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to reopen a case from 2010. The musicians are urging
U.S. Attorney General William Barr to re-examine the death of 20-year-old college student Danroy ‘DJ’ Henry, who was shot and killed by a white police officer ten years ago.In a letter sent on Monday to Barr,
Page Six is reporting that Jay-Z and Rihanna, along with Pharrell Williams, Charlize Theron, Taraji Henson, Odell Beckham Jr., Michael Williams, Kerry Washington, Mary J. Blige and Gabrielle Union urge the Attorney General to reopen the case in order to see whether a ‘pattern of discrimination’ led to Henry’s death. “If it did — deliver the justice that restores this young man’s name and reputation, while giving hope to other young black men who are just like him and desperate for change,” reads the letter. “The facts support this request, the law all but requires it, and justice — it demands it.”On October 17, 2010, police were called to a bar near Pace University in Westchester County, New York after a fight spilled out onto the street. Henry was in the driver’s seat of his car with his best friend when police arrived. Police reports state that Henry sped off after Officer Aaron Hess knocked on his window. Hess said that he stepped in front of Henry’s car and Henry drove into the officer, who claims he grabbed onto Henry’s hood for safety and fired shots into the car, which killed the college student. The second officer on the scene, Ronald Beckley, fired at Hess, not realizing that the person on top of the vehicle was his fellow officer. Hess was part of the K9 unit and was wearing a
black sweater on the night of the shooting.According to the Henry family lawyer, Henry was slowly driving through the parking lot when Hess lunged at his car and jumped on the hood, firing into the windshield. Hess killed Henry and injured his friend Brandon Cox, who was sitting in the passenger seat.Following the shooting, Hess and Beckley pulled Henry from the car and cuffed the 20-year-old, leaving him face down on the street for 10 minutes until paramedics arrived with a defibrillator. The officers said they were
unaware that Henry had been shot. Henry bled to death at the scene.In 2011, a grand jury voted to
not indict Hess, who retired three months after the shooting. Henry’s family settled a civil lawsuit with Pleasantville for $6 million, and received an apology and a $250,000 donation to a charity in Henry’s name from Mount Pleasant.This isn’t the first time the case has received a renewed interest from celebrities. Following Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling protest against police brutality in 2016, a coalition of players in the NFL was created to promote racial justice. In 2019, the coalition released a series of videos highlighting cases of Black people killed by police and included Henry’s story.
In 2017, the Toronto district school board
removed armed police officers from its schools after conducting detailed survey interviews with students, teachers and parents. Unarmed school safety monitors continue to be available on campus and have the option of calling for police backup if necessary.Following the recent Black Lives Matter protests, many schools across the U.S. have called for the removal of armed police officers at the middle school, high school and post-secondary school level. Schools in
California, as well as
Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland and more have voted to remove officers from schools and divert funding to areas that would better serve students, including healthcare and guidance counsellors.According to
NPR, the number of police officers in schools grew exponentially following the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and by 2018, approximately 30 percent of U.S. schools had armed police officers on campus at all times. The
New York Times reports that several studies have found that BIPOC students and students with disabilities are disproportionately targeted by campus police and receive harsher punishment for small transgressions. Studies on whether police on campus make schools safer are
murky at best and in the case of the tragic Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, an armed officer on campus did not stop the deadly attack from occurring.[video_embed id='1994885']Before you go: Viola Davis says her 'entire life has been a protest'[/video_embed]
