More than 100 activists from groups including Chicago’s Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression converged at Chicago’s Federal Plaza on Saturday at a rally to demand change in light of the deadly police shooting of 36-year-old Sonya Massey in Springfield. NBC Chicago’s Courtney Sisk reports.
The Illinois sheriff’s deputy charged in the shooting death of Sonya Massey was kicked out of the Army for the first of two drunken driving convictions in which he had a weapon in his car, authorities said, but that didn’t stop multiple law enforcement agencies from giving him a badge.
Before his policing career began with six jobs in four years — the first three of which were part time — 30-year-old Sean Grayson was convicted twice within a year of driving under the influence, which cost him his hitch in the military.
The convictions plus his previous employment record should have raised serious questions when the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department hired him in May 2023, law enforcement experts say.
Grayson, who has since been fired, is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in the death of Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman who had called 911 about a suspected prowler at her home in Springfield, 200 miles (320 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. Grayson, who is white, has pleaded not guilty.
“Six jobs in four years should have raised a red flag. And you would ask why he wasn’t hired full time in any of those (part-time) jobs,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. “Combined with a track record of DUIs, it would be enough to do further examination as to whether or not he would be a good fit.”
Grayson, who enlisted in the Army in 2014, was charged with DUI in Macoupin County, just south of Sangamon County, after traffic stops on Aug. 10, 2015, and again on July 26, 2016.
The first DUI led to his discharge from the military in February 2016 for “serious misconduct,” according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel information, adding that Grayson had an unregistered gun in his vehicle.
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Macoupin County State’s Attorney Jordan Garrison confirmed that police found a gun in the center console, but Grayson did not face a weapons charge because he was a resident of Fort Riley, Kansas. Kansas has an open-carry firearms law.
Grayson received a general discharge under honorable conditions — rather than an honorable discharge — because he was charged by a civilian law enforcement agency and his military service otherwise was good.
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His attorney, Daniel Fultz, declined to comment Monday.
A misdemeanor DUI charge doesn’t by law preclude someone from serving in law enforcement, said Sean Smoot, chairman of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, but a hiring agency can certainly consider it.
“Some police departments would not have hired someone with one DUI,” Smoot said. “I am shocked an agency would hire someone with two DUIs, but multiple agencies apparently did.”
Massey’s father, James Wilburn, has demanded the resignation of Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell. “He does not intend to step down,” Campbell spokesman Jeff Wilhite said.
A statement from Campbell’s office indicated that the county merit commission and state law enforcement board recommended Grayson’s certification as an officer despite the DUIs, and he passed a drug test, criminal background check, psychological evaluation and 16-week academy course.
Before he came to Springfield, Grayson worked for a year as a deputy sheriff in Logan County, just to the northeast. According to a report obtained under a public records request, he was told he needed more training, including “high-stress decision-making classes,” in November 2022 after he failed to follow an order to halt a high-speed pursuit, reaching speeds of 110 mph (177 kph) before colliding with a deer.
When he applied at Logan, an employment report from Auburn, south of Springfield, where he had worked previously, showed that while Grayson was always early for work, eager for training, receptive to criticism and had not faced disciplinary action, he struggled with report writing, was “not great with evidence — left items laying around office” and was “a bragger.”
The Logan County records also include complaints of misconduct from two people Grayson arrested, including one in which a woman who admitted having drugs in a body cavity claimed Grayson gave her a glove and told her to remove the contraband in front of him and another male officer. She later was taken to a hospital to have it removed and claimed Grayson burst through the curtain during the procedure. He denied both complaints and resigned from Logan County before the investigation was complete.
In the body camera video from the night of the shooting, Grayson and another officer find no evidence of a prowler and wait several minutes for Massey to answer, during which time Grayson makes a comment that she’s dead inside and calls impatiently for her.
Massey, who had suffered mental health issues, appears confused and says, “Don’t hurt me.” Grayson responds at times in a condescending or impatient manner.
“His conduct before, during and after suggests that this guy was a loose cannon, and that’s being polite,” said Kalfani Ture, a former police officer, now assistant professor of criminal justice at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, and an instructor in the New York Police Department’s academy.
Inside Massey’s home, video shows Grayson directing that a pan of water be removed from a flame on the stove. Massey appears to set it near the sink. The two joke about Grayson moving away from her “hot, steaming water” and Massey inexplicably says, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
That prompts Grayson to pull his gun. Massey apologizes and ducks behind a counter, but when Grayson yells at her to drop the pot, she appears to pick it up again. Grayson fires three times, striking her in the face, and makes no immediate effort to provide medical aid because “That’s a headshot.”
“That’s not characteristic of an officer. That is characteristic of someone who has a depraved indifference to human life,” Ture said. “And this incident is not an aberration. Someone like this is pretty consistent in in their display of this type of profile.”
Ture said Massey probably picked the pan up again because she was confused by the shouted orders. He moved too quickly to lethal force — he had other options, including using a stun gun, chemical spray or easily overpowering the diminutive woman, Ture said.
Pulling his weapon escalated the incident, Wexler said.
“He should have slowed things down, communicate, have a plan B and know where the door is to get out of the house, not put himself in a position where he had no alternative but to use deadly force by standing still, pulling out his gun and barking orders,” Wexler said.
