THORNWOOD, N.Y. (AP) — Four Pace University football players were arrested, and one of them was stun-gunned, in the chaos after police fatally shot a teammate outside a suburban New York bar, officials said Tuesday.
One of the teammates broke a storefront window, Mount Pleasant Police Chief Louis Alagno said. The other three wouldn’t move away from the shooting scene and were interfering with medical aid, Westchester County police spokesman Kieran O’Leary said.
The arrests followed the killing of Danroy Henry, 20, of Easton, Mass., by officers who fired through the windshield of his Nissan Altima after police were called to a disturbance that spilled out of Finnegan’s Grill in Thornwood, 27 miles north of New York City and 1 1/2 miles from the Pace campus in Pleasantville.
The circumstances of the shooting early Sunday, a few hours after the homecoming game, are in dispute. Police say Henry sped off, hitting two officers, after a policeman knocked his car window. The father of a passenger denies an officer was hit and claims Henry thought he was following police instructions.
Amateur video from after the shooting appears to show an unruly crowd, with people screaming and someone trying to revive a person on the ground.
WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT THE PACE FOOTBALL PLAYER WHO WAS SHOT
[NBCVIDEO source=”NY” video=”http://www.nbcnewyork.com/syndication?id=105150119&path=%2Fstation%2Fas-seen-on” w=”448″ h=”394″ id=”5340″]
On the campus in Pleasantville, school officials prepared to rent buses to take students to Henry’s funeral in Massachusetts, said spokeswoman Cara Cea. Arrangements had not been made public.
“It seems like the outpouring is just tremendous here,” Cea said.
A call to the Henry family home was answered Tuesday by a recording asking people who knew Danroy Henry “to let everybody you know, tell every single person, how much of an influence Danny had on you or the good things he did and the person he was. Just let everyone know he’s not the kind of person that they’re going to try to make him out to be.”
Alagno said Joseph Romanick, of Slidell, La., was charged with third-degree criminal mischief after breaking a window in the shopping center containing the bar. O’Leary said Daniel Parker of Lauderhill, Fla.; Joseph Garcia of Floral Park, N.Y.; and Yves Delpeche of Brooklyn were charged with disorderly conduct and obstruction.
Parker and Delpeche were also charged with resisting arrest, and Delpeche had to be subdued with a stun gun, O’Leary said. All are 22 and were released pending a Nov. 4 court appearance.
Police had no information about their lawyers.
District Attorney Janet DiFiore pledged Tuesday to get to the bottom of the case.
“We never rush to judgment,” she said. “In the end we will learn about the exact circumstances and events that led to the tragic death of that young man.”
Asked whether a police account would carry more weight than a student’s, DiFiore said only that every statement would be “carefully analyzed.” The size of the crowd outside the bar on Sunday has been estimated at 150, and the district attorney said every witness with information would be approached.
Alagno said 14 investigators were devoted to the case Tuesday — four from the Mount Pleasant force and 10 from the state police.
“They are actively seeking leads and interviewing individuals at several locations,” the chief said.
Without elaborating, he said some forensic evidence was being processed and analyzed. The chief said none of the officers involved had ever had brutality complaints.
The officers who fired at the car have been identified as Pleasantville Officer Aaron Hess and Mount Pleasant Officer Ronald Beckley.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.