A former Illinois deputy has been sentenced to 20 years for fatally shooting Sonya Massey, a Black woman who called 911 for help.
Sean Grayson, 31, was convicted in October of second-degree murder. Grayson, who is white, received the maximum possible sentence and has been in police custody since being charged in the killing.
Massey’s family members, who were sitting in the court, celebrated his sentence with a loud cheer: “Yes!” The judge admonished them.
Grayson apologized during the sentencing, saying he wished he could bring Massey back and spare her family the pain he caused.
“I made a lot of mistakes that night. There were points when I should’ve acted, and I didn’t. I froze,” he said. “I made terrible decisions that night. I’m sorry.”
Cops will go fucking nuts on someone merely because they don’t comply; their pea-brains simply cannot tolerate anyone who dares to question their authority.
Dude shouldn’t have even gone into the house, he refused to leave and deescalate, then murdered a woman instead of just walking out of the door of a place he didn’t even belong.
It didn’t seem like at any point the woman was in a state of mind to calmly invite them in. It’s like they always make the choice that maximizes their chance of shooting someone.
I saw footage of a different encounter where a bunch of police were hanging out right at her backdoor even though she was clearly distressed and didn’t even think about giving her space. Pretty sure they also shot her through a screen door while she was still in her house.
They go nuts on people who do comply. They give conflicting instructions and then punish you when you don’t comply. ICE will ask for your ID and then walk away with it and never give it back.
They are all human garbage fires and I can’t wait for Nuremberg 2.0.
It’s not even about anyone daring to question the authority, it’s anyone who they decide in that very moment is a threat (based on no logic at all). There are so many videos of American cops demanding people to do things they clearly can’t do or just are impossible to do, like two different things that are exclusive to each other. And tons of other videos of people doing exactly what they’re told but no the cop(s) already decided that they’re a threat no matter what.
Cops have a stressful, often life-threatening job, no doubt. But so do a lot of people. My family has a history of working in psychiatric lock-ups with extremely violent mentally ill and developmentally abnormal patients, most of whom are being held because of murders and rapes they’ve committed (usually of their own families), and who would murder you if they had the chance/inclination to do so, because they simply don’t know any better. The nurses don’t carry firearms, they’re trained with a few restraining grappling technique and a lot of deescalation tactics. They don’t even have tasers. Put an armed cop in that situation and you’d have a ward full of corpses within a few days. Hell, put a regular prison guard in that situation and you’d have a similar outcome. But my family members aren’t MMA experts, and have never been [seriously] injured in their job. They’ve been properly trained, that’s all. Cops are trained like they’re being shipped off to 'Nam in 1969 to fight an unseen, non-uniformed enemy.
Weak headline. Should read:
Cop gets 20 years for murdering woman who called 911 for help.
He’ll be out in no time. One quick X post calling on the racist POS in the Oval Office and he will be pardoned. I guarantee it.
It’s a state conviction.
No, sir, I think the problem was the part where you shouldn’t have acted, but did.
He should get life with no parole. It’s not like she can come back after 20 years.
Couldn’t agree more. To serve and protect would have been to take the scalding, not their life. If you’re an officer the standard of conduct and consequence must be higher than for the citizen.
It says it’s the maximum. It’s better than failing to secure conviction on a higher charge.
Imagine youre in an emergency, call the hotline that specifically exists to HELP people in emergencies as quickly as possible, 24/7, and they fucking kill you.
Gosh this is just depressing to read, no wonder people hate cops https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sonya_Massey
Its not even this, it’s so much simpler. Mistakes happen, but so many of their “mistakes” are 100% avoidable and no one is ever accountable for their shitty actions. Thats the main reason I hate cops. They’re arrogant assholes that just like to abuse citizens, and even when faced with irrefutable evidence of wrongdoing, “they did nothing wrong” by their dept.
Fast food workers are held under higher moral standards than the fucking cops. ACAB.
18 year olds in Iraq were held at a higher standard than police in the US. This could’ve been avoided if white America recognized police brutality in black neighborhoods
RIP Sonya Massey. 20 years isn’t really enough. But when it comes to police the bar is so low for them to get held accountable it is better than nothing.
I’m actually surprised, I read this story a while back and expected it like so many US injustices, particularly right now, and that the cop would get a paid vacation. I was deeply depressed.
I mean I still am, but I was back then too.
Either way, I hope he experiences in prison what cops who go to prison experience. 20 years isn’t enough to make someone feel the pain they’ve inflicted on others by taking a life for no reason, and he will likely get out early if he lives, but at least I know however long he’s in there will be either in sheer, constant terror, or utter isolation as he’s kept separate from the general population.
I was JUST thinking about this. What a good time to hop on lemmy. Happy ending.
Well, I wouldn’t say it’s happy to be honest, a life has lost anyway. Not the worst one though, for sure
True. I guess I’m just jaded enough that I hope for anything other than “zero consequences for the officer; plus he’s still working as LEA somewhere” That shit’s actually terrifying
Not only a law enforcement failure, but the US healthcare system proves once again it sucks complete shit. Sonya was suffering from a mental disorder and let me guess, her shitty health insurance, if she had any, did not allow her to be in an institute.
What institutes? Reagan did away with them so now they just go to prisons. If you’re lucky you get 1 to 2 weeks in a psych ward of a hospital, then therapy appointments (which you somehow have to arrange transport). If you’re really lucky, you can get a group home. If you are really wealthy, you can get a service to help you in your own home. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Nice skull tats that asshole has.
What’s worse is that type of behavior is explicitly trained into these goons. This means there were people above Grayson that are probably looking at this as an assault on their way of life. They are not looking into the training they provide to see what could be done different.
Pretti murder reminded me of this one. should have got life.
Good. Sean deserves it.
At the same time, this was clearly a mental health issue. Cops just shouldn’t be sent alone to deal with those. They aren’t trained for it, and many aren’t trainable because it wasn’t part of the hiring criteria and they just don’t have the skills. We need an addition group trained for this that can better handle these things. That way no one has to die, and we don’t have to spend tons of taxpayer money because a cop was put in a position he was clearly unqualified for. Probably shouldn’t even have been a cop. But with high demand and low supply, they end up taking lots of people who should never be cops. Maybe this guy could have lead a happy and productive life as a plumber or something.
I’ve worked for several small cities that had specialist officers for mental health issues, and they really were excellent. If more cities spent 10% of that Swat money on mental health officers, they would significantly improve public safety.
This exactly. Sending cops alone to these calls is like using a hammer on a screw.
