On the night of October 17, 2010, 20-year-old Pace University football player Danroy DJ Henry Jr. was shot and killed by Pleasantville police officer Aaron Hess outside a bar in Thornwood, New York, after police responded to a disturbance. Accounts differ sharply about the moments before the shooting. Police said Henry sped away after an officer knocked on his car window, striking Hess and sending him onto the hood, where Hess fired through the windshield. Friends in the car said they were moving the vehicle at an officer’s direction when Hess stepped in front, jumped on the hood, and opened fire; teammate Brandon Cox was also shot and wounded.

An autopsy showed Henry had a blood-alcohol level of 0.13. Questions were raised about medical attention after the shooting and four teammates who tried to render aid were arrested at the scene; those charges were later dropped. A Westchester grand jury declined to indict Hess in February 2011. The Henry family filed a civil lawsuit, and another officer at the scene, Ronald Beckley, later said in deposition he thought Hess was the aggressor and that he fired at Hess to stop an attack on Henry. The Westchester District Attorney announced a new independent review of the shooting in 2021.