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Sonya Massey, Shot by Police in Illinois, 'Should Be Alive Today'
"This video is sickening," the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus Senate chair said of the newly released body camera footage. "Justice demands answers and accountability."
Jul 22, 2024
Campaigners and political leaders across the United States responded with outrage and fresh calls for justice after the Monday release of body camera footage from the deadly police shooting of Sonya Massey, an unarmed 36-year-old Black woman from Springfield, Illinois.
"Sonya Massey, a beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black woman, should be alive today," U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement. "Sonya's death at the hands of a responding officer reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not."
"Sonya's family deserves justice," added Biden, who on Sunday exited this year's presidential race and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, for the Democratic nomination. "Congress must pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act now. Our fundamental commitment to justice is at stake."
Massey called 911 just before 1:00 am CT on July 6 to report a "prowler" near her Springfield home,
according toWCIA and the Illinois State Police (ISP), which conducted an investigation after being contacted by Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell.
Two deputies from the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office were dispatched in response to Massey's call. ISP posted a total of over 34 minutes of bodycam footage from both deputies on YouTube. The video shows a deputy shooting Massey, who had been holding a pot of water they asked her to take off the stove. Before releasing the footage, authorities blurred her body.
The bodycam footage can be viewed here on the ISP YouTube page.
Black Lives Matter Springfield warned in a Sunday statement that "the footage will be distressing. It will be infuriating, heartbreaking, and may trigger trauma responses. It may also spur hateful comments or actions online or elsewhere by those who do not share our outrage about this senseless murder."
The group encouraged the Black community "to take care of themselves during this time" and said that it "will continue to stand for justice through peaceful protest and community action for Sonya Massey and all the Black women and men who have been murdered by police before her."
Sangamon County State's Attorney John Milhiser announced last week that one deputy, 30-year-old Sean Grayson, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, and official misconduct. Campbell said that Grayson has been fired and "our office will continue to cooperate fully with the criminal proceedings as this case moves forward."
Grayson, who is white, "has pleaded not guilty" and "is being held in the Sangamon County Jail without bond," The Associated Pressreported. "If convicted, he faces prison sentences of 45 years to life for murder, six to 30 years for battery and two to five years for misconduct. His lawyer, Daniel Fultz, declined comment on Monday."
The other deputy who was on the scene has not been publicly identified.
During a Monday press conference, attorney Ben Crump said the bodycam footage would "shock the conscience of America like the pictures of Emmett Till after he was lynched" and Massey's father, James Wilburn, called for passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act—which includes various policies intended to reduce law enforcement misconduct and increase accountability.
Advocates have been sharing updates and expressing condolences on social media with the hashtag #StandWithSonya.
"Color of Change mourns Sonya Massey and we send our heartfelt condolences to the Massey family," said Kyle Bibby, the group's interim chief of campaigns and programs, in a Monday statement. "The video released today is gut-wrenching and once again shows that Black people in this country cannot escape police violence, even in their own homes. It is also a stark reminder of the urgent need to address police brutality and misconduct."
"The actions of Sean Grayson are disgraceful and inhumane, and reflect a blatant disregard for the safety and well-being of the community. His actions are an alarming reminder of how police so often disregard Black lives," Bibby continued. "It is crucial that the authorities take swift and decisive action in holding those responsible for Sonya Massey's death accountable, and work towards rebuilding trust and ensuring the safety and dignity of all individuals in our communities."
"Today, we weep for Sonya Massey and ask, How much more suffering is necessary before we see real change?" he added. "As we enter election season, our community members should ensure their voices are heard so they can demand reforms that increase police accountability and prevent violence like that perpetrated against Sonya Massey from ever happening again."
Since Grayson was charged, political leaders across the state have commented on the case. In a Wednesday statement that remains pinned to the top of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's profile on X, formerly Twitter, the Democrat welcomed the charges and called for building "a system of justice in this country that truly protects all of its citizens."
"My heart breaks for Sonya's children, for her family and friends, and for all who knew and loved her, and I am enraged that another innocent Black woman had her life taken from her at the hands of a police officer," Pritzker also said.
The comments kept mounting after the release of the video. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Monday that "the body camera footage released today is disturbing and unconscionable. My thoughts continue to be with Sonya Massey's children, family, and loved ones as they relive these horrible moments."
Some who weighed in highlighted aspects of Illinois state law, including bodycam requirements and rules for investigations.
"The body camera footage is horrific, and I offer my deepest sympathy to Sonya Massey's family as they relive a moment no family should experience," said Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. "As the community reacts to the release of the footage, I urge calm as this matter works its way through the criminal justice system."
"In Illinois we have made sure that the law mandates independent investigations after officer-involved shootings," he added. "In this matter it appears that the investigation by the Illinois State Police and the subsequent referral to the Sangamon County state's attorney's office have complied with the letter and spirit of the law by providing the appropriate transparency and moving toward accountability."
State Sen. Robert Peters, Senate chair of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, said Monday that "this video is sickening. It is despicable and disgusting to see such brutal violence toward an innocent Black woman. How did this person ever become a law enforcement officer?"
"This is why we fought for increased transparency. This is why we fought for body camera requirements. This is why we fought to end cash bail to keep dangerous people detained," he continued. "But arresting and detaining the perpetrator isn't the end. Justice demands answers and accountability."
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Report Details Intensifying Police Crackdown on US Journalists Covering Protests
"The inadequacy of press freedom protections was starkly exposed during the Trump administration, when some of the largest street protests in American history took place," according to a new report.
Jun 20, 2023
In recent years, particularly since former Republican President Donald Trump took office in 2017, U.S. police have failed to uphold basic constitutional rights for journalists covering rallies and other protests, a new report from the Knight First Amendment Institute said Tuesday, with the study documenting a number of physical attacks, unjust arrests, and suppression tactics used by police at protests both large and small.
Senior visiting fellow Joel Simon interviewed dozens of journalists and legal experts about the resurgence of police violence against journalists in recent years—a trend that recalls numerous "notorious incidents" that took place during the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 60s, including the harassment of reporters attempting to cover school integration in Little Rock, Arkansas and the seizure of camera film from journalists in Greenwood, Mississippi as police dogs attacked protesters.
In the 1980s and 90s, Simon wrote in the report, "violent police attacks on journalists receded along with police-protester clashes, perhaps in part because many police departments adopted a more conciliatory, negotiation-based approach to demonstrators."
"The steady growth of police militarization post-9/11," however, "helped fuel further conflict with the press," Simon wrote.
In recent decades the Department of Defense has supplied police departments across the U.S. with "military-grade equipment like armored vehicles, rifles, and grenades," noted the author, and a PEN America report on the protests that erupted in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 after the police killing of Michael Brown illustrated how that change in law enforcement agencies' arsenals has intensified police officers' treatment of journalists as well as protesters:
The actions against journalists, as well as those against protesters, were "fueled by the aggressive militarized response by police to largely peaceful public protests... This apparently created a mentality among some police officers that they were patrolling a war zone, rather than a predominantly peaceful protest attended by citizens exercising their First Amendment rights, and members of the press who also possess those rights." The number of reported abuses "strongly suggests that some police officers were deliberately trying to prevent the media from documenting the protests and the police response."
In Ferguson, Simon wrote, researchers documented 52 alleged violations of reporters' constitutional right to cover protests, including physical attacks and aggression, obstruction of access, and 21 arrests.
"Protests have always been dangerous to cover, but we had never seen anything on this scale."
The protests in Ferguson marked a milestone in law enforcement's changing relationship with the press, the report shows, followed six years later by a number of rights violations during the nationwide racial justice uprising of 2020 in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
"The inadequacy of press freedom protections was starkly exposed during the Trump administration, when some of the largest street protests in American history took place, including those against the Floyd murder," wrote Simon. "During that period, police frequently assaulted, arrested, or detained journalists at protests, particularly when enforcing dispersal orders, imposing curfews, or deploying crowd control measures. In 2020, at least 129 journalists were arrested covering social justice protests. More than 400 journalists suffered physical attacks, 80% of them at the hands of law enforcement."
Photojournalist Mike Shum described to Simon how "law enforcement turned on the media" in Minneapolis four days after Floyd's murder, after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) imposed an 8:00 pm curfew that ostensibly exempted the press:
That night police fired on a group of journalists with rubber bullets, hitting Shum in the foot. "It was confusing because we just kept screaming 'we’re press, we're press,’ but the bullets just kept flying," Shum recalled. In a separate incident that day, police in Minnesota fired on photojournalist Linda Tirado with what is believed to be a rubber bullet, permanently blinding her in one eye.
Other journalists were "pelted with pepper spray, tear gas, and other projectiles as they ran to take cover" after police "formed a skirmish line" to enforce the curfew. A photographer working with NBC, Ed Ou, was "hit in the head with what he believes was a flash-bang grenade" and then "blasted" with pepper spray by police who ignored his pleas for medical assistance.
Outside the Twin Cities, other journalists covering the uprising were hit with batons, beaten, and shot with rubber bullets, as well as arrested for trying to report on the protests.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker—whose data Simon used to compile the report—found that "hundreds of separate incidents" of police violence against journalists took place in 80 cities across 36 states in the year following Floyd's murder. Journalists in 309 cases said they were targeted by police officers between May 26, 2020—the day after the killing—and May 26, 2021, and 44 of those cases took place in Minneapolis.
"Protests have always been dangerous to cover, but we had never seen anything on this scale," Kirstin McCudden, managing editor of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, told Simon.
The report also details the use of "kettling"—in which police contain protesters, and in some cases, journalists, by surrounding them in one area—which was prevalent during the demonstrations that erupted in Washington, D.C. during Trump's inauguration in 2017.
One journalist, Aaron Cantú, was reporting on the "DisruptJ20" rally when he was trapped by the police officers' kettling tactic.
"He assumed he could approach the police line and explain he was reporting on the rally," Simon wrote. "But when he initially tried to engage with police, he was hit with pepper spray in his eyes and temporarily blinded."
Police also applied zip ties to Cantú's wrists "so tightly that his hands went numb" and refused him access to food or a bathroom "during the more than eight hours he was held in the kettle." Law enforcement also demanded access to his phone and electronic communications.
"The nature of journalism has changed, and the law does not appear to have kept up," Cantú told Simon. "In these dangerous situations, law enforcement is deciding who is or who is not a journalist."
Cantú was one of more than 200 protesters and journalists who were arrested at the protest, none of whom were ultimately convicted of a crime.
"These events could have played out differently. Police could have opted not to use kettling, an indiscriminate tactic that detains everyone in a geographical area, instead attempting to single out for arrest those who were violating the law," wrote Simon. "Police might have made a greater effort to ascertain if journalists were accidentally caught up in the kettle and to release them if their role could be confirmed. Prosecutors could have made a decision not to charge them, based on the fact that they were acting as journalists and engaged in newsgathering activities."
In the report, Simon called on police to refrain from interfering with or using force against anyone engaged in newsgathering activity and exempt reporters from curfew and dispersal orders.
"When the general public is no longer permitted to remain at the site of a protest, police can use indicators like a press credential, distinctive clothing marked 'press,' or professional recording equipment, to guide their determinations about who is exempt from the order," he wrote. "When in doubt, police should assume that someone who appears to be engaged in journalism is in fact a journalist."
Other recommendations include:
- State legislatures codifying such exemptions into law and requiring police to actively work to ensure journalists can operate at protests;
- News organizations offering police training on upholding press freedom and meeting directly with law enforcement agencies to establish a dialogue between press and police; and
- The U.S. Department of Justice opening investigations into credible allegations of the mistreatment of journalists at protests to establish whether there is a pattern of such conduct at police agencies.
Three years after the George Floyd protests, and ahead of the 2024 election, Simon wrote, "America remains polarized and broader policing issues are a source of deep controversy."
"This is the moment to tackle the historic challenge," he added. "The next wave of mass protests could be just around the corner. So could America's next press freedom crisis."
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Calls for Systemic Transformation of US Policing Follow Damning DOJ Report on Minneapolis PD
"Reform isn't what we need! 'Reform' means more money for the killer cop industry that will never erase its origins out of slave patrols," asserted Black Lives Matter.
Jun 17, 2023
Racial justice defenders on Friday said the Department of Justice probe of the Minneapolis Police Department—which detailed a pattern of excessive violence, racism, and civil rights violations—underscores the need for deep systemic transformation of U.S. policing.
The DOJ's 89-page
report—the result of an investigation launched in the wake of the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin—found that, as many community members have said for decades, the MPD and Minnesota's largest city "engage in a pattern or practice of conduct in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal law."
"Our investigation showed that MPD officers routinely use excessive force, often when no force is necessary. We found that MPD officers often use unreasonable force (including deadly force) to obtain immediate compliance with orders, often forgoing meaningful de-escalation tactics and instead using force to subdue people," the report states. "MPD's pattern or practice of using excessive force violates the law."
\u201cBREAKING\n\nDOJ announces the results of an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Dept. Among the findings, the police:\n\n1) use force against Black & Native American people when unnecessary & disproportionately\n\n2) use racist & misogynistic language \n\nUnsurprising yet shocking.\u201d— Rev. & Prof. Cornell William Brooks\ud83d\udfe7 (@Rev. & Prof. Cornell William Brooks\ud83d\udfe7) 1686931108
The DOJ probe found that MPD:
- Uses excessive force, including unjustified deadly force and unreasonable use of Tasers;
- Unlawfully discriminates against Black people and Native American people in its enforcement activities, including the use of force following stops;
- Violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech; and
- Along with the city, discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to calls for assistance.
"We also found persistent deficiencies in MPD's accountability systems, training, supervision, and officer wellness programs, which contribute to the violations of the Constitution and federal law," the report states.
Responding to the investigation, Black Lives Matter tweeted: "Reform isn't what we need! 'Reform' means more money for the killer cop industry that will never erase its origins out of slave patrols. Defund the police. Then we abolish."
\u201cReform isn\u2019t what we need! \n\n"Reform" means more money for the killer cop industry that will never erase its origins out of slave patrols.\n\nDefund the police. Then we abolish. (2/2)\u201d— Black Lives Matter (@Black Lives Matter) 1687025283
Award-winning filmmaker and Twin Cities community artist D.A. Bullock lamented "the absolute folly of dedicating all our resources toward carceral systems that do not work."
"[You] don't fund or bolster the executioner to prevent the murder," he argued on Twitter.
John Thompson, a former Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker from St. Paul, said at a community press conference after the report's release that "we've been here before. Everything they've told you... we've said it before out of our own mouths, only to be ridiculed and called race-baiters."
"I can only speak as a Black man, because I've been a Black man my whole life. Black men died at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department... We're talking about Black men dying," added Thompson, who was friends with Philado Castile, a Black man shot dead in his car in 2017 by an officer in the Minneapolis suburb of Falcon Heights.
"We steady keep pumping money into public safety but the public is not safe," he contended.
\u201c"everything they've said, we said it out of our own mouths...only to be ridiculed..." \nconsent decrees dont work\u201d— Comrade Ohio (@Comrade Ohio) 1687013602
The DOJ probe found that between 2020 and 2022 MPD officers stopped Black people at 7.8 times the rate of white people, and Indigenous people 10 times as often as whites, with the disparity in searches even worse.
"MPD searches people during stops involving Black people at 12.8 times the per capita rate at which it searches people during stops involving white people. MPD searches people during stops involving Native Americans at 19.7 times the rate for white people," the report notes.
Furthermore, the report highlights a pattern of "needlessly harsh treatment of youth," including an incident in which "an MPD officer drew his gun and arrested an unarmed Black teen for allegedly taking a $5 burrito without paying," pinning the child to the hood of a car and prompting witnessed to call 911 "to report the teen was being accosted by a 'wacko who has a gun.'"
\u201cREAD this THREAD by @radleybalko on today\u2019s DOJ report about the Minneapolis Police Dept. Just remember, this is also the \u201cheartland.\u201d\nHere\u2019s a link to the full report. \n\nhttps://t.co/QS8lB8eBLg\u201d— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sherrilyn Ifill) 1686936520
A section of the DOJ report on MPD's illegal attacks on protesters and journalists states:
MPD officers regularly retaliate against members of the press—particularly by using force. For example... on May 30, 2020, officers encountered journalists who were sheltering at a gas station. An officer... approached a journalist who was filming, holding up his press credential, and shouting, "I'm press!" The officer forcefully pushed the journalist's head to the pavement. As he lay on the ground, the journalist held up his press credential. In response, an MPD sergeant pepper sprayed him directly in his face, then walked away.
The DOJ said Minneapolis and the MPD have agreed "in principle" to a consent decree, a plan for reform enforced by a federal court.
"George Floyd's death had an irrevocable impact on his family, on the Minneapolis community, on our country, and on the world," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "The patterns and practices of conduct the Justice Department observed during our investigation are deeply disturbing. They erode the community's trust in law enforcement. And they made what happened to George Floyd possible."
"Today, we have completed our investigation, but this is only the first step," Garland added. "We will continue to work with the city and the MPD toward ensuring that MPD officers have the support and resources they need to do their jobs effectively and lawfully as we work together toward meaningful and durable reform."
The report contains 28 recommendations in eight categories: use of force, identifying and reducing racial disparities, protecting First Amendment rights, responding to people with behavioral health issues, accountability, transparency, training, and wellness.
\u201cAG Garland just quoted from video I obtained through a lawsuit against the Minneapolis Police Department, when an officer told Somali American teens he was proud U.S. troops killed \u2018you folk\u2019 during Black Hawk Down. My earlier reporting for @SahanJournal: https://t.co/E562kMBTTh\u201d— Tony Webster (@Tony Webster) 1686928574
The ACLU of Minnesota—which has filed three lawsuits over the unconstitutional MPD practices referenced in the DOJ report—said it hopes the city will agree to include all of DOJ's recommendations in the forthcoming consent decree.
"The findings of the DOJ's investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department are troubling, and sadly not surprising," ACLU of Minnesota executive director Deepinder Mayell said in a statement. "Minneapolis residents—especially Black and Indigenous people, and people with behavioral health disabilities—have long been victim to excessive force and discriminatory treatment at the hands of MPD."
"Police have treated the people and the First Amendment with blatant disrespect by assaulting protesters and journalists," Mayell added. "We hope the coming consent decree finally helps create a community where all people are safe, and police follow the law."
\u201cAs with Ferguson, Louisville, and Cleveland, Black people in Minneapolis have long known about these abuses because they've been subjected to them.\n\nThis was never about one police department\u2014it's about a corrupt and violent system that continues to target Black people.\u201d— Congresswoman Cori Bush (@Congresswoman Cori Bush) 1687011895
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said in a statement that "this is a dark day for our city."
“These findings are shocking, but sadly, not surprising," Omar continued. "What's worse, the report finds that many of the violations—such as the widespread failure to report race and gender in stops— increased after George Floyd's murder in 2020."
"As a Black woman living in Minneapolis, I have experienced some of these violations firsthand," she said.
"What's worse, the report finds that many of the violations—such as the widespread failure to report race and gender in stops— increased after George Floyd's murder in 2020."
Omar argued that "we must demand a public safety system built on data and trust, not fear and racism. We must recognize that we cannot prosecute and incarcerate our way to sustainable public safety, that building that trust requires that we address the system that allows racial discrimination—from the disproportionate arrest and incarceration rates Black and Brown people face, to the marijuana laws that criminalize Black and Brown people."
"We need to act at the federal level, including by passing my Amir Locke End Deadly No Knock Warrants Act, my package of bills making police violence against protesters a federal crime (among other provisions), and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act," the congresswoman added. "And most of all, we must build a police force that is well-trained, held accountable by its leadership, and follows the highest standards of ethics and conduct."
\u201cNow, two separate, independent investigations by state and federal authorities have found very serious and systemic problems that we have to fix.\n\nRead my full statement on the DOJ\u2019s investigation into MPD\ud83d\udc47\nhttps://t.co/uYu27RVY0v\u201d— Attorney General Keith Ellison (@Attorney General Keith Ellison) 1686938837
In response to the DOJ report, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara
vowed that "we will change the narrative around policing in this city. Out of the darkness and trauma that our residents and our police officers have experienced over the last three years, we will emerge as a beacon of light for the rest of the world."
Civil rights attorneys Benjamin Crump, Antonio Romanucci, and Jeff Storms—members of George Floyd's legal team who now represent relatives of Amir Locke, a Black man shot dead by MPD officers executing a February 2022 "no-knock" warrant for another man—released a statement that said in part:
Unfortunately, our legal team remains skeptical about Minneapolis' commitment to change and accountability. We are deeply concerned that while city leaders appear to be cooperating with the DOJ directives to create change, the city is doing the opposite, and vigorously defending the conduct of the officers who shot and killed Amir Locke.
"Despite the city's public face of wanting reform to stop the needless deaths of young Brown and Black Minneapolis residents, the city continues to mount aggressive defenses on behalf of the officers and police department they agree requires federal consent reforms," the trio added. "This continued refusal to police from within is a textbook example of why the federal government must police the Minneapolis police."
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