Another tragedy

Dear Readers, Law enforcement “protects and serves,” an underpaid and selfless career deserving our applause. Each shift might be an officer’s last; it can be that dangerous and random. Go, law enforcement!

It hurts all of us when a rogue officer violates the law.  Officers are pillars of our communities, in the same vein as educators and health care workers.  Yet, each rogue officer is an indictment of all law enforcement agencies.  We absolutely have to stop letting miscreants carry a badge and a gun. 

On July 6th, Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old black mother of two (the youngest a toddler), called the Sangamon County (Springfield, Illinois) Sheriff’s Department for assistance.  She thought there was a prowler outside and wanted law enforcement to protect. 

She was not in her right mind, and the prowler was a phantom of a paranoid mental health crisis.  The day before (July 5th), her mother (Donna Massey) called and warned the Sheriff’s Department to take care.  She begged them not to send a “combative” or “prejudiced” deputy if her daughter called for help. 

Dispatched to July 6th call was Deputy Sean Grayson, a 2016 dischargee from the United States Army due to “misconduct (serious offense)” and a “general discharge” only two years into his service contract.  Not exactly a positive mark on his law enforcement resume.  It gets worse.  He pleaded guilty to a first offense of Driving Under the Influence (August 2015, and a second less than a year later (July 2016), costing him his driving privileges for a year.  This popped up on a background check before his hire by Sangamon County, although this was not “disqualifying.”

Deputy Grayson’s law enforcement career started in Illinois in 2020, with a series of part-time positions at the Pawnee, Kincaid (he only worked there for three months), and Virden Police Departments.  He went full-time with the Auburn (Illinois) Police Department in July 2021, where he worked for less than another year (May 2022). 

It gets worse.  From the Auburn PD, he went briefly to the Logan County Sheriff’s Department.  While there, the Deputy Chief observed he was in need of “high-stress decision-making classes,” after failing to terminate a high-speed pursuit, ignoring a supervisor’s order.  He was traveling at speeds in excess of 110 mph before striking a deer.  And then, he lied about it in his report.  Despite all these red flags, Sangamon County hired him in May 2023.  All told, he worked for six different agencies during the three years he was hired.

And it gets worse.  There were warnings that Deputy Grayson was a “live wire” after his hire.  In May of 2024, a complaint was filed against him because of his treatment of a 17-year-old girl while searching for a stabbing suspect.  The girl was home alone and refused to let him in without an adult present.  He told her she was lying and threatened to handcuff her if she did not let him in.

The night of the July 6th murder of Ms. Massey, she showed up at her front door in a “nightie.”  We know this not because Deputy Grayson had his body cam on (he did not) but because a second Deputy did.  

Ms. Massey is on video acting strange; Deputy Grayson asked to enter her residence when there was no reason to set foot inside, and her being killed in her kitchen.  Ms. Massey was asked to check on a boiling pot because Deputy Grayson said, from 10 feet away in the living room, “We don’t need a fire in here.”  Ms. Massey complied.

As she did so, she said, in a low, calm voice, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”  After being asked to repeat what she had just said, Deputy Grayson reached for his revolver, threatening to shoot her in the face.  Seconds later, Ms. Massey ducked to the ground to no avail as Deputy Grayson shot her in the head.  While she lay bleeding, Deputy Grayson called it a “kill shot,” saying rendering aid was useless.

Deputy Grayson is in jail charged with murder.  In no world was it reasonable to hire him and give him a badge.  Ms. Massey was a troubled woman. Her death is senseless and inexcusable; it was an execution.  Officers must be trained and have the temperament to tend to the mentally ill.  He had no business having a badge. 

Warner Robins attorney Jim Rockefeller is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Houston County, and a former Assistant State Attorney in Miami.  Owner of Rockefeller Law Center, Jim has been in private practice since 2000.  E-mail your comments or confidential legal questions to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com.