The family of an Illinois mother gunned down in her home by a sheriff’s deputy wants a nationwide database of officers’ violations and mandatory, comprehensive background checks for law enforcement applicants, the family’s attorneys said.
Sonya Massey was killed July 6 after two Sangamon County sheriff’s deputies responded to Massey’s 911 call about a possible prowler at her home.
One of those deputies, Sean Grayson, worked for six different law enforcement agencies in the past four years. His documented history of problems with the law and in law enforcement highlights the need for a comprehensive, national database for tracking officers’ disciplinary issues or criminal offenses, policing experts have said.
“Sean Grayson was a ticking time bomb,” Massey family attorney Antonio Romanucci said Wednesday. “Second by second that this man was on the Sangamon County police force, he was a ticking time bomb.”
Grayson, 30, has been fired from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office and charged with murder for Massey’s death. His attorney, Daniel Fultz, declined to comment Wednesday.
What initially started as a calm encounter between Massey, Grayson and the other deputy ended with Grayson cursing at and shooting Massey after a dispute involving a pot of hot water, body camera footage shows.
In the footage, Massey rebuked one of the deputies, and Grayson responded by threatening Massey. After shooting Massey in the face, Grayson failed to render aid, the footage revealed.
“The blood is on the hands of the system as well as Sean Grayson,” said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who also represents Massey’s family. “We can do better. We must do better.”
These changes must be made, attorneys say
Grayson had two DUI convictions prior to joining law enforcement and had a policy violation involving a high-speed pursuit while working at a previous sheriff’s office, his personnel files show. Grayson was also reprimanded for submitting an inaccurate report at the previous sheriff’s office.
These types of mistakes should be included in a national registry so that other police or sheriff’s departments can check for problems before they hire an applicant, Massey’s family attorneys said.
“We want a national database … to include infractions such as DUIs. We want it to include infractions (such) as driving 101 miles per hour during a police chase,” Romanucci said.
“We want it to include if you use excessive force or unnecessary profane language on a citizen. We want to stop any police officer who does not deserve to wear the uniform or the badge.”
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would set up a national registry of police misconduct to prevent officers from evading consequences for their actions by moving to another jurisdiction. But the bill has languished for years amid bipartisan differences in Congress.
And without the national registry, “we’ve seen case after case where police officers were allowed to resign at one law enforcement agency and then go next door, get hired by the next law enforcement agency, and kill somebody,” Crump said.
Red flags wouldn’t necessarily disqualify
Just because a law enforcement officer made a mistake in the past – such as DUI or violating policy – doesn’t mean they should be automatically be barred from getting hired at another department, Romanucci said.
Rather, “we want to make those red flags. We want those to be put in the standards protocol so that everyone is aware of it,” he said.
“It’s not that it should be an automatic disqualifier. I mean, if the legislators determine it should be – that a DUI should be a disqualifier – then maybe it should. However, these red flags cannot go unchecked. That’s the problem.”
To help ensure agencies check for red flags, Romanucci wants a mandatory waiting period before a law enforcement officer can be hired – possibly 45 days – to make sure there’s enough time for a thorough background check, he said.
And if any infractions are found – possibly via a national database – and a department still wants to hire the applicant, a high-ranking official should acknowledge and sign off on those red flags, Romanucci said.
“If he makes the hire, then it’s his responsibility,” Romanucci said. “We need to prove that the background checks were done so none of these infractions fall through the cracks.”
‘Sonya was failed by multiple systems’
Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell acknowledged his department’s mistakes following Massey’s death.
“We did not do our jobs. We failed Sonya. We failed Sonya’s family and friends. We failed the community,” Campbell said.
But he defended his hiring of Grayson. “No other law enforcement agency reported problems with Grayson before we hired him,” the sheriff said July 31. In addition, “Grayson’s personnel file includes references from people I know well.”
But as more details emerged about Grayson’s past, Campbell said he started getting death threats. Last week, the sheriff announced his retirement, effective August 31.
That brings a bit of relief to Massey’s family, her uncle said.
“We are very pleased that the sheriff resigned,” Raymond Massey said Wednesday. “But I personally feel that Sonya was failed by multiple systems and multiple people.”
That’s why mandatory, comprehensive background checks for applicants and a national database of officers’ infractions are needed, Crump said.
“Law enforcement reports on everybody else when they’re accused of stuff,” he said. “But it doesn’t work when it’s internal? You don’t report on it? What kind of sense does that make?”
CNN’s Ray Sanchez and Emma Tucker contributed to this report.
