The more we learn about Sonya Massey‘s killer, former Illinois deputy Sean Grayson, the more evident it becomes that the 30-year-old should not have had a badge or gun at the time he used the latter to end Massey’s life for no discernable reason. Maybe that’s why Grayson’s former employer is now asking for the “forgiveness” of Massey’s “family and friends.”
Source: Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department / Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department
According to the Springfield State Journal-Register, Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said Monday that his department “failed the community,” implying that it is due to that failure that Massey was shot to death by a trigger-happy cop who, by the way, had been employed by six different police agencies since 2020 and was discharged from the U.S. Army for “serious misconduct” in 2016.
“We failed. We did not do our jobs,” Campbell during a Department of Justice Community Relations Service listening session at Union Baptist Church in Springfield. “We failed Sonya. We failed Sonya’s family and friends.
“I stand here before you with my arms wide open and I ask for your forgiveness. I ask (Donna Massey, Sonya’s mother) for forgiveness. I offer up no excuses,” he continued.
Last week, we learned that Grayson spent four years bouncing from one police agency to the next like they were old pairs of shoes. We learned that he has two DUI convictions on his record and that the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, where Grayson was employed when he shot Massey, knew about the DUIs as did his previous employers, one of whom wrote in a recommendation letter to the Auburn Police Department, that “aside from Mr. Grayson’s DUI, there were no other issues that he had during his tenure in the U.S. Army.”
Apparently, the sheriff’s office found out the hard way that Grayson was a walking red flag of a cop, and a superior officer even questioned why he was still employed as an officer of the law. “How are you still employed by us?!” they asked.
They still didn’t fire him though.
From IPM News:
Personnel records show that Grayson’s time there was fraught, though he was not fired by the department. Grayson’s file from Logan County shows he continued a high-speed pursuit of a traffic offender even after his supervisor ordered him to terminate it, a woman filed a complaint claiming Grayson tried to watch as she was strip searched, and her fiancé, who was in Logan County jail, claimed Grayson questioned him in front of other inmates as retaliation for his girlfriend’s complaint.
Logan County Chief Deputy Nathan Miller wrote in a November 2022 report that Grayson needed “extensive” training after failing to listen to his superiors. He wrote Grayson needed field training, along with “additional traffic stop training, report writing training, high-stress decision making process classes, and needs to read, discuss and understand issued Logan County Sheriff’s Department policies.”
“Seven months on. How are you still employed by us?” Miller asked Grayson during a recorded meeting to discuss Grayson’s actions.
“I don’t know,” Grayson responded.
Grayson continued to serve with Logan County Sheriff’s Department for five more months.
Miller told Grayson at the time that because he was still in his probationary period, which meant he could be fired at will, his numerous violations of the sheriff’s office’s policies could lead to his termination—so why TF wasn’t he fired long before he was in a position to walk into Sonya Massey’s home and ultimately end her life?
Grayson could have been fired in 2022 after he continued to chase after a truck, traveling faster than 60 mph in 30 mph zones, even after he was instructed to end his pursuit by his supervisor. Instead of following his superior officer’s instruction, Grayson turned off his emergency lights and siren and continued at speeds more than 100 mph “to keep the truck in sight,” according to his report.
Grayson could have been fired a month after his meeting with Miller after the sheriff’s department received a complaint that Grayson tried to watch as a female detainee was strip-searched. The complaint against Grayson was determined to be “unfounded,” but not so unfounded that his supervisors didn’t still feel compelled to recommend that Grayson receive counseling on best practices. The red flags kept rolling in from there.
More from IPM:
Two weeks later, the woman’s fiancé, who was being held in Logan County Jail, filed a complaint stating Grayson came to the jail and questioned him in retaliation.
“He is angry at her for filing the report and came back here and asked to speak to me in front of all of the other inmates, who now know that I talked to detectives which could possibly put me in danger!” the man wrote.
The police chief in the city of Auburn, his previous employer, relayed to Logan County that Grayson was very aggressive about making drug arrests and expressed concern that he was too aggressive. The chief further said Grayson was a “bragger” who once posted on social media about a drug arrest.
The Auburn chief also noted that Grayson struggled with report writing and was “not great” with evidence – though the chief relayed that Grayson received no write-ups or punishment during his time at Auburn.
So, maybe Sheriff Campbell’s apology to Massey’s family is about more than how one department “failed the community.” Maybe his plea for “forgiveness” is an indication that the entire system of policing in America also owes an apology to communities across the country, because it is simply way too easy for bad cops to remain employed.
Sean Grayson should have been looking for a new line of work, and Sonya Massey should still be alive today. These two truths are directly connected, and that’s the real problem.