Michael Sussman, the attorney that represents former Pace Football player Danroy “DJ” Henry’s family, spoke about what he perceives as the facts of the death of DJ Henry’s case at Wilcox 36 last Thursday afternoon.

DJ Henry was shot to death in his car outside Finnegan’s Bar and Grill by Mount Pleasant Police officer Aaron Hess. This occurred at around 1 a.m. on Oct. 17, 2010.

“DJ left [the bar], he was waiting in a fire lane with two of his friends, and the police officer knocked on the window. DJ took that knock to mean [leave] and started driving, and achieved the speed of maybe 15 miles per hour as he drove away, but as he drove around the pretty steep curve he saw the police officer in the middle of the road and was slowing down,” Sussman said. “The police officer lunged on the car, and by the police officer’s own estimate, within one second fired four shots, three of which killed DJ.”

After DJ Henry was shot, two officers removed him from the car, threw him to the ground and handcuffed him. He lay on the ground for between five and 14 minutes and bled to death, receiving no medical attention.

“I employed the most well known survivability cardiologist in the country, Doctor [Robert] Myerberg from the University of Miami, who has published around 500 articles based on his own research on survivability issues,” Sussman said. “He’s indicated that there is around a 10 to 15% chance that if DJ got immediate medical attention, which means with in a 10 minute period, he might have survived.”

After Hess began firing, another officer, 30-year veteran of the Mount Pleasant Police force Ronald Beckley, fired at Hess after mistaking him for an assailant who was shooting someone. This was the first time that Beckley ever used his gun.

Beckley told the former lieutenant of the Mount Pleasant Police at the time, Brian Fanelli—who is now facing federal prison time for possessing over 100 child pornography files—, that he had shot at Hess. Fanelli wrote in a memorandum that Beckley told him that he had fired at Henry’s car, alongside Hess.

Afterward, Mount Pleasant police Chief Louis Alagno called the press and released the account that Henry was speeding, and that Fanelli and Hess had to fire at DJ Henry to protect their lives. This became the official story the media ran with.

“There were hundreds of people at the scene who could have corroborated a different story about the rate of speed, and other parts of the incident, but nobody interviewed them at that point,” Sussman said.

After being chosen by Henry’s parents to work on the case, Sussman realized that the part of the story that Henry was speeding did not make any sense according to the laws of physics. In reality, the car could have only been going between seven and eight miles per hour.

“If the car was going at a high rate of speed, and the officer lunged or dived at the car his head would be through the windshield. It took us years to get accident reconstruction done, but we got it confirmed that the rate of speed was seven or eight miles per hour,” Sussman said.

Since a district attorney who has ties to the police department was handling the case, Sussman and DJ Henry’s father, Dan Henry, called for a special prosecutor. This upset the district attorney, and they publicly released the toxicology report that said DJ Henry was drunk at the time of death.

According to Sussman, contrary to the toxicology report released by the district attorney, DJ Henry was not drunk the night he died. There were around 75 witnesses, including students and the Tavern owner, who said he was not drinking.

Sussman claimed that the toxicology sample that indicated DJ Henry was drunk might have been tampered with, in favor of the police.

“We have reason to believe there is a tainting of corruption of the [toxicology] sample, done intentionally,” Sussman said.

A grand jury decided to not indict Hess for criminal charges. The reason for this decision is currently unknown to the public. Sussman requested the contents of the grand jury, but was denied.

Sussman has viewed his experience representing the Henry family as a great honor.

“The Henry family is extraordinary. They are very engaged. They attended most depositions, and watched me question the shooter of their son, that’s not easy. They’re both very bright, and have tremendously high aspirations for their children, just like I have for my children,” Sussman said.

Students found Sussman very informative, since many of them had never heard the entire case before.

“I’ve done research on it, and I know students who knew DJ Henry. It’s interesting to hear the whole story,” sophomore Carolyn Hririck said. “I think students should be more informed on it, especially since it happened a mile way.”