Families seek new investigations into past police killings

RICHMOND, Va. — One man died after a police officer in New York state told him to move his illegally parked car. Another, in the midst of a mental health crisis, was shot fatally by an officer on a Virginia highway.

A third man died in Oklahoma after a struggle with police. His last words echoed the ones used by Black men in similar circumstances and the chants at civil rights protests: “I can’t breathe.”

The officers involved in the deaths of Danroy “DJ” Henry Jr., 20; Marcus-David Peters, 24; and Derrick Elliot Scott, 41, were cleared of wrongdoing. But the protests sinceGeorge Floydwas killed during a police encounter in Minnesota have encouraged the men’s families to try to get the investigations reopened.

Marcus-David Peters

Marcus-David Peters was a popular high school biology teacher when he appeared to emotionally unravel May 14, 2018, in Richmond, Va. An officer’s body camera captured it on video.

“Male seems to be mentally unstable as we speak,” Officer Michael Nyantakyi said over his police radio after Peters sideswiped several vehicles and crashed his car next to a highway ramp.

Peters climbed out of his car — naked — and ran into heavy rush-hour traffic. He was knocked down by a vehicle, got up and then laid back down on Interstate 95, flailing his limbs.

Nyantakyi pointed a stun gun at him. The teacher ran toward toward the officer, shouting and threatening to kill him. The officer, who is also Black, deployed the stun gun, which appeared to have no effect, then shot Peters with his service weapon.

Peters died later at a hospital. A prosecutor cleared Nyantakyi three months later.

The Peters family and local activists have called on Richmond’s top prosecutor to reopen the investigation.

“Marcus needed help, not death,” said Peters’ sister, Princess Blanding.

Danroy “DJ” Henry

DJHenry barely had started his adult life on the day it ended, Oct. 17, 2010, after a police officer in a hamlet north of New York City asked the college student to move his car out of a fire lane.

Henry was a 20-year-old football player at Pace University. He and some friends went to a local restaurant after the homecoming game but left when a fight broke out among other patrons.

After an officer asked Henry tomovehis Nissan Altima, he drove across a parking lot and onto an access road.

That’s where Pleasantville Officer Aaron Hess stepped in front of the car and ended up on the hood. Hess fired four gunshots through the windshield, killing Henry and wounding one of his friends.

The officer said he believed Henry was trying to run him over . A grand jury cleared Hess of wrongdoing in 2011.

Henry’s case, like others, has received renewed scrutiny in recent months. Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kerry Washington and other celebrities asked the U.S. Justice Department in July to investigate. A department spokeswoman declined to comment.

Henry’s family reached a $6 million civil settlement in 2016. His father wants the criminal case reopened because he questions if the grand jury heard all the relevant evidence.

Derrick Elliot Scott

Vickey Scott said she screamed and fell to the floor the first time she watched a video of her son moaning and telling police “I can’t breathe” over and over while pinned to the ground.

“Every single day of my life, Iamhopingandpraying that those officers are charged with my son’s death,” the mother said.

Her son, Derrick Elliot Scott, died May 20, 2019, almost one year before

George Floyd, 46, used those samewords with a police officer’s knee pressed on his neck.

Police encountered Scott while responding to a 911call about a man brandishing a gun in a parking lot.

When the officers approached him, Scott ran. The officers tackled him to the ground.

Scott died later at a hospital.

An autopsy listed the probable cause of death as a collapsed lung and said several conditions likely contributed, including physical restraint, recent methamphetamine use, asthma, emphysema and heart disease.

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater cleared the officers. He said last week that he is not inclined to reopen the investigation.