Hey guys,
Last October a 20 year old student athlete from Massachusetts was shot and killed by a NYC police officer. According to the police report, the victim, Danroy Henry Jr. was approached when his car was parked in a fire lane. The police approached the car and tapped on the window to get Henry’s attention. Henry then accelerated the car hitting Officer Aaron Hess sending him onto the hood of the car and causing serious damage to Hess’ leg.
Hess and another officer fired at the car while it sped away, killing Henry. This week, The Police Benevolent Association of the Pleasantville Police Department gave Hess an award for actions of professionalism in handling the situation.
Henry’s family has taken issue with Hess receiving this award. They say that giving an award to Hess is insensitive and unnecessary. They claim that there is no reason to honor an officer who killed a 20 year-old in such a senseless incident stating that some officers feel that they are above the law…
What do you think?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/nyregion/officer-who-shot-danroy-henry-gets-police-union-award.html
I think that you should be congradulated for how you handled the situation. but, by no mans should you get an award. Imagine how thew parents feel
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the parents on the point that giving him an award would be very unnecessary but i strongly disagree with the parents when the parents stated that some officers think that they are above the law , applying that Hess did . I think that Hess reacted to the situation the way he was trained to do and he did nothing wrong , but i also think that giving him an away for something like that is uncalled for and it just puts more distress on the parents. And I understand the parents point of view but i disagree when they say the he would be getting an award for killing a twenty year old boy , when in fact he is getting an away for stepping up to the pate when another officer needed his help .
ReplyDeleteI believe that the officer should be congratulated for the way he handled the situation, but I agree with the victim's family in that he should not have been given an award. That, to me, is extremely insensitive to the family who has just lost a loved one. For the family, the police department are giving an award to the man who killed their son.
ReplyDeleteI do also believe that police officers sometimes believe that they are above the law. They think that because they are enforcing the law, it does not necessarily apply to them. I think that is wrong and the law is put in place for everybody to follow, including the police.
I believe that awarding officers is acceptable in some cases. However, in this particular case I don't believe that it was necessary. As a police officer, it's in your job description to deal with situations like this frequently. I don't believe that it was such an outstanding and heroic moment for that officer to the point where he should have been given an award. I also believe that the action of giving him an award was extremely insensitive because although it was ultimately Henry's fault that he was killed, his family is still in mourning.
ReplyDelete~ Kelly Corrigan
I feel that it was not necessary for the police officers to get special awards for killing a young man. Cops are exposed to violence towards them almost everyday and they should have expected that when they wanted to become police officers in the first place. The cops did not know why Danroy was pulling away, maybe he was moving his car but they should have told him to move and then back up to let him. Instead they stayed close enough to the car to get hit then shot at the man while he was driving away. I feel that they should not have drawn their weapons, especially to the inside of the car. If they wanted to stop the car they could have shot the tires so the car would stop and they could arrest Danroy that way. I personally think that way to often cops abuse their power and do things that are unnecessary in a certain situation just because they are cops and can do so. By giving them a special award for this, it is just going to make them act out again. I think it was a horrible idea to give them an award and they should not have been worthy for one in a situation like this. Now Danroy’s family has to live with the fact that their Danroy’s death was such a wonderful accomplishment for the police officers.
ReplyDelete