Evidence photos from the police shooting of Danroy "DJ" Henry Jr.

Evidence from the scene of Pace University student
DJ Henry's fatal encounter with Officer Aaron Hess in Mount Pleasant, NY. At the time DJ was shot and killed, police said DJ was a danger to Hess and others in the road-but DJ's parents weren't sure they were getting the whole story-and began a seven year quest for the truth.

DJ Henry was fatally shot in his car by police officer Aaron Hess in the early morning hours of Oct. 17, 2010.  DJ's passengers say they were doing nothing wrong when Hess ran out in front of them in the road. Hess says he only fired because he was in fear for his life, once up on DJ's hood.

Evidence From The Scene

Officer Hess's vehicle parked at the scene. Hess says he stepped out across the road from the right side of his car, to stand in front of DJ's car as it approached him. Before DJ began to drive around this curve, he was idling in the fire lane just in front of and slightly to the right of Hess's vehicle.

Evidence From The Scene

The gun Officer Hess used that night which he says he drew while standing in the road, as DJ's car was approaching him. 

Evidence From The Scene

The hood of DJ's car after the shooting, with the visible handprint of Officer Hess. Hess says he lunged up onto DJ's hood as the car hit him, holding his gun in his right hand and steadied himself on the car with his left

Evidence From The Scene

A view of DJ's windshield at the scene, after the shooting.

Evidence From The Scene

A closer view of the bullet holes in DJ's windshield.

Evidence From The Scene

The jacket Aaron Hess was wearing on Oct. 17, 2010. Hess was on duty as a K-9 officer for Pleasantville, N.Y. As Hess was shooting into DJ's car, Mount Pleasant N.Y. Officer Ronald Beckley, who was also at the scene, said he saw "a dark figure" on DJ's hood that he thought was an "aggressor." Beckley fired one shot at that figure, whom he did not know was a fellow officer at the time. Beckley did not hit Aaron Hess. 

Evidence From The Scene

Officer Ronald Beckley's uniform from that night. Beckley had been on the job as a police officer for 30 years when DJ was killed in 2010. Beckley did not return to work after the incident and retired three months later.

Evidence From The Scene

A view of the bullet hole in DJ's hood, which police said matched the ballistics to Ronald Beckley's gun. Beckley said he was in front of DJ's car and somewhat to the side when he shot at the person he believed to be the aggressor, on the hood, whom he later learned was Officer Aaron Hess.

Evidence From The Scene

A view of the trajectory of the bullet that hit the front passenger seat of DJ Henry's car.

Evidence From The Scene

The bullet hole in the front passenger seat where DJ's best friend from home, Brandon Cox, was sitting that night. Brandon suffered a graze wound to his left arm that night and was taken to the hospital in handcuffs.

Evidence From The Scene

A view of the damage to DJ's car after it came to a stop that night. DJ's car hit a parked police cruiser after he was shot and came to a stop shortly after that.

Evidence From The Scene

DJ's steering wheel. DJ was hit by two bullets, one that entered his heart.

Evidence From The Scene

An apparent bullet hole in the back seat of DJ's car. DJ's passenger, Desmond Hinds, had slid into the middle of the backseat just before the shooting, and was not hit by any of the bullets fired into the car.

Evidence From The Scene

The stretch of road at the strip mall where DJ encountered Officer Hess. DJ had just driven around the curve when Hess stepped out into the roadway in front of his car, around where the "NO PARKING" sign and the pillar behind it are on the right.

Evidence From The Scene

A view of the curve from behind where Hess stepped out to meet DJ's car as it came toward him in the road.

Evidence From The Scene

A view of where DJ's car came to rest after he was shot. It's the taupe sedan second from the right. DJ's car first hit one of the parked police cruisers on the left, then came to a stop a short distance away.

Evidence From The Scene

The police cruiser DJ's car hit after he was shot.

Evidence From The Scene

The roadway where DJ laid dying after he was shot in his car. After DJ was shot, two officers took him out of his car, handcuffed him, and laid him face down in the road. The officers said later they couldn't tell DJ had been shot. It was 10 minutes after the first call went out about the shooting before DJ was hooked up to a defibrillator at the scene.