Danroy Henry shooter named 'Officer of the Year'

NEW YORK - Henry's mother, Angela, blasted the PBA's decision to reward the officer who fired the bullets that killed her son...

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By Susannah Griffee
NBC New York

A police officer who shot and killed a Pace University football player last fall was honored as “officer of the year” by the Pleasantville Police Benevolent Association last Friday.

Officer Aaron Hess received the award after spending a year recovering from knee injuries relating to the events of October 27, 2010, when police say that Pace football player Danroy “DJ” Henry, 20, ran his car into Hess after ignoring orders to stop.

Hess was thrown onto the hood and fired into the car, killing Henry. A grand jury investigating the police shooting found “no reasonable cause” to indict the officers involved. The Department of Justice said in February that it would examine the case.

In a statement made after the shooting, PBA President Matthew Listwan said Hess sustained knee injuries from the collision requiring a 4 ½ hour surgery.

Listwan told Patch.com that Hess received the Officer of the Year award “to recognize all he went through and all his hard work.”

Listwan is not available for further comment at this time.

Henry’s mother, Angela, blasted the PBA’s decision to reward the officer who fired the bullets that killed her son.

“It’s speaks to the arrogance that we have experienced since Oct. 17, 2010,” Angela Henry told the Boston Herald. “It just shows their inhumanity and their arrogance and we just continue to move forward and fight for justice for our son and we hope that the Justice Department will look at everything carefully.”

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