Officials in Sangamon County, Illinois, have agreed to a $10 million settlement with the family of Sonya Massey, a Black woman who was shot and killed by law enforcement in her home last year. The agreement was reached after mediation between lawyers representing both parties, as per a resolution posted by the Sangamon County Board. The settlement was unanimously approved by the county board.
Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old mother of two, tragically lost her life on July 6 after two Sangamon County sheriff’s deputies responded to her 911 call about a possible prowler at her home. Body camera footage revealed that she was shot and killed following a dispute with one of the responding deputies involving a pot of boiling water in her kitchen.
It was disclosed that Massey had been struggling with mental health issues, and dispatch records indicated that the sheriff’s department had been informed she was experiencing a mental health crisis. One of the deputies, Sean Grayson, was terminated and is currently in custody facing a first-degree murder charge. Grayson has pleaded not guilty.
The tragic incident has sparked renewed calls for the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which aims to establish a national database for tracking officers’ disciplinary issues or criminal offenses. Grayson's troubled history, spanning six agencies in four years, has raised concerns about oversight in law enforcement.
Recently, the US Department of Justice announced an agreement with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office in response to an inquiry into violations of federal anti-discrimination law in Massey’s shooting death. The agreement includes measures such as enhanced training and improved use-of-force data reporting to ensure that policing activities are conducted in a nondiscriminatory manner.
