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Forum nameGeneral Discussion
Topic subjectThe Murder of Sonya Massey
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=13507535
13507535, The Murder of Sonya Massey
Posted by fif, Mon Jul-22-24 09:11 PM
horrific footage here:

https://x.com/johnbryanesq/status/1815480632513798469

13507544, I hate that I watched that
Posted by Mynoriti, Tue Jul-23-24 01:08 AM
I generally will only watch these videos because I don't like relying on other people's telling or interpretation of events

but I don't even have words for this
13507550, Just heard about this, refuse to watch
Posted by 3CardMolly, Tue Jul-23-24 06:43 AM
Unless the cop is lock away in gen pop and the aryans leave him open for all others to shank etc and its caught on vid for the cops family and world to see, justice wont be served.

Wtf is Poetx when you need him.

13507552, Wife showed me this last nite. Absolutely sickening behavior.
Posted by Brew, Tue Jul-23-24 09:00 AM
These psychopaths are always, always, chomping at the bit to murder someone of color in cold blood and it's fucking disgusting. The way they responded to their murder after the fact is so telling. Barely a soul in either of those pigs.

Like dude above, I'm pissed I watched.
13507555, Some folks truly aren't meant to be police officers.
Posted by Numba_33, Tue Jul-23-24 09:12 AM
Wild and maddening dude was that stressed out and frazzled to think an old woman with a pot of hot water posed as a threat to him.
13507556, It's insane. This can't be stressed enough.
Posted by Brew, Tue Jul-23-24 09:27 AM
>Wild and maddening dude was that stressed out and frazzled to think an old woman with a pot of hot water posed as a threat to him.

This man knowingly, intentionally, shot a woman *in the fucking face* because she was holding a pot of water.

Shooting her at all for holding a pot of water is insane. Nevermind threatening her ahead of time, which proves intent; let alone threatening *and making good on the threat* of shooting her IN THE FACE.

Insane. If this man isn't locked up for life, good god. Other cop needs to be locked up too.
13507559, I don't think you all should accept this framing of it.
Posted by Buddy_Gilapagos, Tue Jul-23-24 09:44 AM
"dude was that stressed out and frazzled to think an old woman with a pot of hot water posed as a threat to him."

That's not what happened. What happened was dude thought so little of her life, that he shot her without a second thought. And that's the kindest reading.

He saw shooting that woman no different than shooting a target at the range. I was going to say shooting a dog but, honestly, he would have probably less likely to shoot a non-threatening dog the way he shot that woman crouched on the ground saying she was sorry.

That wasn't an act of fear; it was an act of depravity, and you know it was because of his callousness after the fact.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"
13507568, I didn't explicitly state this but this is exactly what I was getting @.
Posted by Brew, Tue Jul-23-24 11:19 AM
>"dude was that stressed out and frazzled to think an old
>woman with a pot of hot water posed as a threat to him."
>
>That's not what happened. What happened was dude thought so
>little of her life, that he shot her without a second thought.
>And that's the kindest reading.
>
>He saw shooting that woman no different than shooting a target
>at the range. I was going to say shooting a dog but,
>honestly, he would have probably less likely to shoot a
>non-threatening dog the way he shot that woman crouched on the
>ground saying she was sorry.
>
>That wasn't an act of fear; it was an act of depravity, and
>you know it was because of his callousness after the fact.

He clearly *wasn't* frazzled, that's right. I definitely didn't go far enough in my criticism of these actions; I didn't translate what was in my head into words on the screen. But yes, I'm with you 100%. This man is clearly a psychopath who was chomping at the bit to kill someone, and likely saw what he thought was an easy target in a woman of color. Like I said, their callousness after the fact says it all.

So yea - I'm with you 100% even if I only scratched the surface of the point I was trying to make. You brought it home for me lol. To be clear, I wasn't at all accepting the bullshit framing that he found this woman a threat because of the pot of water. But I didn't make that clear in my initial post so my bad on that.
13507570, All good. Wasn't coming at you personally.
Posted by Buddy_Gilapagos, Tue Jul-23-24 11:33 AM
It's just a framing of these shootings that we see a lot. As soon as we accept that framing passively/reflexively, we give that dude too much credit.

And I said my reading is the "kindest" reading because I don't know if he was chomping at the bit to kill someone. Maybe. I don't know and I wouldn't spend a lot of time arguing with or against someone who thought he was. I think it's a difference that doesn't matter because I think wanting to kill a black person (or any person) because you are blood thirsty or killing someone because you don't even see them as a person because of indifference are equally heinous.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"
13507572, Oh word I know - just wanted to make sure I clarified the point I wanted to make.
Posted by Brew, Tue Jul-23-24 11:54 AM
>It's just a framing of these shootings that we see a lot. As
>soon as we accept that framing passively/reflexively, we give
>that dude too much credit.
>
>And I said my reading is the "kindest" reading because I don't
>know if he was chomping at the bit to kill someone. Maybe. I
>don't know and I wouldn't spend a lot of time arguing with or
>against someone who thought he was. I think it's a difference
>that doesn't matter because I think wanting to kill a black
>person (or any person) because you are blood thirsty or
>killing someone because you don't even see them as a person
>because of indifference are equally heinous.

100000%. Distinction without a difference. Whether he went in there bloodthirsty or just became so based on a slight change in the situation, doesn't really matter. The result was the same.
13507563, a lot of problems with policing could be solved by treating it...
Posted by PROMO, Tue Jul-23-24 09:59 AM
like the serious job that it is.

the fact that you don't have to have multiple years of education and training to become one is ridiculous. it should be a 4 year degree with continuing education similar to being a lawyer (you know, another job with serious, real life legal consequences).

cleary, that fucking bum should have never been one. if you ended up killing someone who called you for help...over hot water...i hope they cook his ass in court.

RIP Sonya Massey.
13507569, All of this.
Posted by Brew, Tue Jul-23-24 11:20 AM
>like the serious job that it is.
>
>the fact that you don't have to have multiple years of
>education and training to become one is ridiculous. it should
>be a 4 year degree with continuing education similar to being
>a lawyer (you know, another job with serious, real life legal
>consequences).
>
>cleary, that fucking bum should have never been one. if you
>ended up killing someone who called you for help...over hot
>water...i hope they cook his ass in court.
>
>RIP Sonya Massey.
13507571, I was reading this book about policing in NYC in the 60s.
Posted by Buddy_Gilapagos, Tue Jul-23-24 11:36 AM
And it was eye opening about how policing just wasn't a professional profession and it was mainly seen as a way to shake people down.

The problem though is worst than you describe IMHOP because not only is it really not treated as a serious job but it also attracts a certain personality type that wants to be an ahole with a gun.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"
13507573, I say this almost verbatim everytime I get in a debate with a pro-police person.
Posted by Brew, Tue Jul-23-24 11:56 AM
>And it was eye opening about how policing just wasn't a
>professional profession and it was mainly seen as a way to
>shake people down.
>
>The problem though is worst than you describe IMHOP because
>not only is it really not treated as a serious job but it also
>attracts a certain personality type that wants to be an ahole
>with a gun.

I always ask them to think about every person they knew growing up who became part of law enforcement and to describe them to me. Were they racist, even if they were just telling "jokes" ? Were they bullies ? Were they outsiders/losers, alpha males/alpha male wannabes ? Etc. Almost every cop I know falls into one or all of those categories.
13507582, was his 6th police department in less than 3 years
Posted by Mynoriti, Tue Jul-23-24 01:17 PM
6th!
13507583, unreal.
Posted by PROMO, Tue Jul-23-24 01:18 PM
13507585, Police depts are desperate for recruits rn so you have to be that bad
Posted by Mynoriti, Tue Jul-23-24 01:30 PM
to either repeatedly be asked to resign, or be the guy that's leaving because fuck these rules

also had 2 DUIs
13507584, And he'll get hired at a 7th after he's acquitted on all charges.
Posted by Brew, Tue Jul-23-24 01:20 PM
Sorry, I'm cynical af.
13507586, That kind of negligence borders on being criminal.
Posted by Numba_33, Tue Jul-23-24 01:37 PM
Hopefully his future police employment, much less his freedom, ends with this murder.
13507557, In court proceedings, are these cops ever asked if they are cowards?
Posted by kwez, Tue Jul-23-24 09:33 AM
Because this cop is going to say he feared for his life and I want to see him admit he's not fit for the job because he is scared of unarmed women



************************
13507587, It'll be interesting to see
Posted by Numba_33, Tue Jul-23-24 01:53 PM
how much the District Attorney and the Judge for this case will proceed since most local judicial systems typically have to work with law enforcement to bring criminal cases to court and typically don't press against the police as much as they should.

I'm hoping this peabrain of an officer will be made an example of, but time will tell. The fact the local police actually fired dude and didn't place him under administrative leave with pay is somewhat of a good sign as police with strong unions normally get some form of protection even in instances like this.
13507578, apparently
Posted by Crash Bandacoot, Tue Jul-23-24 12:42 PM
his work history is absolute garbage. i can't even look at that video.
13507579, Under the jail with this fool
Posted by Adwhizz, Tue Jul-23-24 12:52 PM
13507580, She told them she loved them..........
Posted by CHASE SwAyZe, Tue Jul-23-24 12:52 PM
Complete 30 minute video: https://youtu.be/HFun2GydGyU?si=cE74z_m2IS1l-Rl1&t=639
13507596, he was really like "what else could I do?"
Posted by Mynoriti, Tue Jul-23-24 05:35 PM
when the answer is, literally anything but kill her

In the most generous interpretation of this where he legit feels threatened that she's going to throw boiling water on him, he could have just ran outside. There's no reason he *needed* to stay in the house

Later in the video he called her a crazy bitch

after he executed her


>Complete 30 minute video:
>https://youtu.be/HFun2GydGyU?si=cE74z_m2IS1l-Rl1&t=639
13507592, this was a straight up murder
Posted by makaveli, Tue Jul-23-24 03:44 PM
he will go to jail.
13507604, Fingers crossed
Posted by SuiteLady, Tue Jul-23-24 10:09 PM
13507597, Can someone please describe the video?
Posted by soulfunk, Tue Jul-23-24 07:23 PM
I am absolutely NOT watching another one of these. Can’t take it. Much appreciated if someone can describe it.
13507601, Black lady calls police
Posted by shockvalue, Tue Jul-23-24 10:01 PM
Two white male Police arrive and start poking around in her apartment, she is cooperative and non threatening. at one point they or she notice her pot of water on the stove is boiling, she walks to kitchen to grab pot to pour into colander presumably, one cop backs away, she bemusedly asks why, he says because of your pot of water, she gets offended perhaps and says “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus” (but in no way is she brandishing the pot of water in a threatening manner.) Second cop says, “don’t even think about it or I’ll shoot you in the fn face” (seemingly this is in reply to the imprecatory prayer since again, no threatening Move was made.) Same cop draws gun, lady immediately places the pot in the sink
and says I’m sorry, sticks hands up and sort of bows
down in submission, cop with gun yells “drop the fucking pot” several times after she’s already done so then shoots her. Totally inexplicable except as fulfillment of a latent desire to kill someone under color of law.
13507615, Wow. Thanks for that. No way I’m watching it.
Posted by soulfunk, Wed Jul-24-24 05:41 AM
13507602, hate to say it but it's better to see for yourself
Posted by Mynoriti, Tue Jul-23-24 10:02 PM
it's hard to describe this without editorializing at least a litte

there have definitely been videos where I relied on other people's versions, and when i finally watched felt like I can see to a degree why the cops reacted the way they did. This isn't one of those times

but if you must, from the video that was posted:

cops are in the house, they were called by her and had seemingly been there for a bit. The interaction seemed cordial, and even friendly. She's sitting on the couch looking for her ID, and they're lightly directing her.

Photos posted of her show a middle aged woman but in the video she looks like someone's grandmother. She looks pretty frail. She's in a robe with some kind of pajamas. These cops are young tall and pretty yolked up.

One cop tells her to go check on her boiling water because they don't want a fire. Everything seems chill. She walks over gets an oven mit and grabs the pot. They're a good 15 feet from each other behind a couch. As she grabs the pot, the cop takes a step back. She asks where he's going and the cop chuckles and says "away from your steaming hot water". She says (calmly) "oh, I rebuke you in the name of jesus" cop asks "what?" She repeats the same line and the cop goes agro. "You better not or I'll shoot you in your fucking face!". He points the gun at her. She crouches down and says "I'm sorry I'm sorry"... and he unloads while screaming drop the fucking pot

If I'm off on something someone can feel free to correct me. I didn't want to watch it again


13507616, there's a slow-mo I saw that shows the potholders clearly come up off
Posted by T Reynolds, Wed Jul-24-24 06:46 AM
the pot when she lifts her hands and says "I'm sorry"

That cop is a devil and I wish him the worst possible future
13507648, yeah it looks like she just raising the potholders as she's apologizing
Posted by Mynoriti, Wed Jul-24-24 02:31 PM
unfuckinreal

>the pot when she lifts her hands and says "I'm sorry"
>
>That cop is a devil and I wish him the worst possible future
13507649, saw that too. pot clearly stays on the stove.
Posted by PROMO, Wed Jul-24-24 02:36 PM
13507603, Wow! I started writing this description for you but couldn’t finish :-(
Posted by SuiteLady, Tue Jul-23-24 10:04 PM
There are some news articles the have it all written out. The ones I read today were pretty accurate to what I saw in the video. And to be clear, my “wow“ was directed at me, not you. It just hit me hard how I couldn’t type that out. I don’t know how the journalists do it.

I will say this, though there is no blood or gore in the video that is linked in this post. There was a half wall separating the two of them which should tell you something about how inexcusable this was just by saying that.
13507624, Super important detail.
Posted by Brew, Wed Jul-24-24 09:16 AM
>There was a half wall separating
>the two of them which should tell you something about how
>inexcusable this was just by saying that.

This woman posed absolutely *NO THREAT* to these pigs, for a million reasons but particularly because of the distance between them and that wall. Any predictable, bullshit attempt at "but I feared for my life" should be disallowed by a judge off jump.
13507633, Cop went full demon after she said "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus"
Posted by flipnile, Wed Jul-24-24 10:42 AM
Like a switch was flipped. Not even religious, and I couldn't not notice that.
13507647, he really did. it was like a bad horror movie
Posted by Mynoriti, Wed Jul-24-24 02:11 PM
thought maybe he heard something different but he asked her to repeat it. don't really get why it literally triggered him so much, because he didn't appear hostile until that moment.

more likely he's just the kind of amped up meathead who will stomp someone out half his size for bumping into him even after they apologized. Probably a big part of why he's bounced around so many police departments in such short time
13507651, When I read she said "I rebuke you..."
Posted by Adwhizz, Wed Jul-24-24 02:38 PM
I pictured her saying that in a loud/booming voice (which still wouldn't justify her getting shot) watching the vid and hearing how low key she sounded makes this even more bonkers.

13507653, Exactly. All of this.
Posted by Brew, Wed Jul-24-24 02:40 PM
>I pictured her saying that in a loud/booming voice (which
>still wouldn't justify her getting shot) watching the vid and
>hearing how low key she sounded makes this even more
>bonkers.
13507659, she then said "I'm sorry" and dropped to the ground
Posted by Vex_id, Wed Jul-24-24 03:53 PM
and despite the fact that there was an entire counter separating them, this coward fired off head shots because of "hot water" being a "threat" - yet she never even threw water. If you really were scared of water, you can't create more distance? tase? take the pot out of her hand? He was dying for a reason to murder this woman, plain and simple.

Even an arriving officer arrived to the scene and said, incredulously, "so where's the gun?", referring to the obvious fact that this woman was unarmed illustrating how absurd it was to execute a woman for picking up a pot of water.
-->
13507675, Right. He told her.
Posted by Brew, Thu Jul-25-24 09:07 AM
>He was dying
>for a reason to murder this woman, plain and simple.

YOU BETTER NOT OR ILL SHOOT YOU IN THE FUCKING HEAD man is deranged.
13507679, Boiling water can scald, but all they had to do was back up...
Posted by flipnile, Thu Jul-25-24 10:41 AM
...if they really felt threatened. It would also be obvious if she tried to throw the water on them, as she'd have to go through a whole throwing motion, which would have been obvious. Like, seen it coming from a mile away obvious.

I agree with this:
> He was dying for a reason to murder this woman, plain and simple.
13507658, This is really emblematic of just how problematic American policing still is
Posted by Vex_id, Wed Jul-24-24 03:47 PM
This trash deputy who murdered Massey had worked for like 6 different agencies in 4 years, and had multiple DUIs. The video is a tough watch, but a necessary one, not just to prove that he murdered Massey in cold blood, but in the utter lack of humanity and dignity shown for this woman. Grayson (the deputy) had animosity and contempt for her as soon as he arrived on the scene, despite the fact she called the police for help (something which sadly nobody should be doing as the police are simply not there to "serve and protect" you).

Grayson was aggressive, disrespectful, and treated Massey as less than human - and it happens all the time. I've seen the culture of policing up front and personal in my own experiences - even being targeted by police for standing up for marginalized people in my own community.

Not once did Grayson show any kind of concern or regard for Massey, and even after murdering her in cold blood, he discouraged his partner from getting his med kit to offer aid despite the fact that she was still breathing (as even he conceded in the video). He even said later in the video that he's not going to "waste his kit" on her. I mean wtf. He never showed an ounce of remorse for slaughtering this woman - and this is how these communities have been policed for decades and decades. Frankly, the only thing that surprised me in this was the fact that they actually released the video and charged this guy with murder. For every case like this, there's 10 where the police "investigate" themselves, cover for their officers, and lie about what actually transpired.

I've seen a lot of police shooting videos, but this one was possibly the most disgusting one I've seen in how it exemplified the contempt police have for the people they are supposed to be serving.
-->
13507661, apparently, he also said "that bitch was crazy"...
Posted by PROMO, Wed Jul-24-24 04:23 PM
and was trying to check w/ dispatch to see if she had any "mental health" reports in her background (so he could start framing his defense...all while he was lackadaisically getting his med kit).
13523244, found guilty of murder
Posted by Mynoriti, Wed Oct-29-25 07:08 PM
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sean-grayson-found-guilty-murder-death-sonya-massey-rcna240223
13523246, 2nd degree murder w/
Posted by 3CardMolly, Wed Oct-29-25 09:21 PM
Days counted for current time/good behavior and other bs.

There’s gotta be a few Christopher Scarvers at Sangamon County Jail that wont allow him to leave.
13523249, i dont think getting him on murder one was a possibility
Posted by Mynoriti, Wed Oct-29-25 10:06 PM
but dude deserves to be dumped in a boiling water tank until he dissolves

Hopefully he'll be locked up long enough that he cant join ICE when he gets out

13523255, Can Trump pardon him? If so, he will.. smh
Posted by legsdiamond, Thu Oct-30-25 06:17 AM
13523267, Trump cant pardon state crimes but
Posted by Mynoriti, Thu Oct-30-25 11:45 AM
apparently he can get up 20 years, but the judge could also give him probation
13523364, thank god for that
Posted by fif, Fri Nov-07-25 06:16 PM
13525186, sentenced to 20 years
Posted by Mynoriti, Thu Jan-29-26 06:19 PM
which is the max for second degree
which also means he could be out in 10

In brighter news he has cancer, in one of the rare instances where cancer picked correctly

https://apnews.com/article/sonya-massey-grayson-murder-sentence-b4af388a9e7133449e861033a741d2ff
13528277, Sean Grayson dead in prison at 32
Posted by Mynoriti, Mon Aug-24-26 12:03 PM
https://apnews.com/article/sonia-massey-illinois-sean-grayson-police-1e2e2adb38dadb03c48c4ca944234830
13528278, RIP Sonya Massey
Posted by luminous, Mon Aug-24-26 12:22 PM
13528279, 100%
Posted by Mynoriti, Mon Aug-24-26 01:26 PM
13528292, ^
Posted by Brew, Wed Aug-26-26 09:24 AM
13528291, Bye bitch.
Posted by Brew, Wed Aug-26-26 09:24 AM