Up to date as of two/12/2025 at 3:00 p.m. ET
At this time would have been Sonya Massey’s thirty seventh birthday. As an alternative of celebrating with cake and balloons, her household is reminded of the tragedy that claimed her life final 12 months. Nonetheless, some justice has been served since her tragic loss of life.
Tuesday night time, Sangamon County, Ailing. officers agreed with Massey’s household and attorneys to pay a $10 million settlement. Based on civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, the settlement was 50 % of the sheriff’s workplace annual finances.
In a digital press convention Wednesday, Crump stated the choice was “solely step one within the journey for justice.”
That sheriff’s workplace was beneath fireplace after the July 6, 2024 incident when deputies responded to a name in Springfield, based on Illinois State Police. The house belonged to that of Ms. Massey. Crump stated in a previous assertion the police had been referred to as by Massey who was involved a couple of potential intruder in her residence.
Based on physique digicam footage, when officers arrived, they received right into a dispute with Massey over a pot of boiling water she was holding. When she ducked behind her kitchen counter, inflicting the water to splash on the ground, Deputy Sean Grayson fired 5 photographs at her, one in all which struck her fatally, per the footage.
She was taken to HSHS St. John’s Hospital the place she died later, police stated. It was speculated later that she might have been beneath psychological misery.
One other type of justice served past the settlement was the arrest of Grayson following the incident. The Sangamon County State’s Lawyer’s Workplace indicted him on expenses of first-degree homicide, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct, based on an announcement from Crump. The sheriff’s workplace additionally stated Grayson was terminated from the division after failing to “act as skilled or in accordance with our requirements.”
Grayson stays behind bars and pleaded not responsible to the fees.
The ultimate act was a transfer by the U.S. Division of Justice final month to work with Sangamon County Sheriff’s Workplace following an probe into the violation of Massey’s rights beneath federal anti-discrimination legislation, CNN experiences. A part of the deal features a promise to implement extra coaching and use-of-force information reporting. The county can be required so as to add de-escalation coaching for deputies when dealing with folks with behavioral well being disabilities, per the DOJ.
Although these actions present extra progress than we’ve seen within the aftermath of different police shootings, Massey’s household desires to see justice served all the way in which.
“We wish civil accountability, prison culpability and we would like legislative modifications,” Crump stated on the convention. “We wish the legal guidelines to forestall one thing like this from occurring once more.”