Why Did Sonya Massey Have to Die?
“I’m sorry!” Those were the last words uttered by Sonya Massey before her life was ended by gunfire from a police officer’s pistol.
“I’m sorry!” A refrain made much sadder by the fact that Sonya Massey spoke those words even as she crouched in fear with only upraised kitchen mitts between her and the bullet that would ultimately end her life — much sadder because the man who killed her told her, in graphic detail, exactly what he was going to do to her — much sadder because the man who killed her swore he would protect her.
Of all the bodycam footage I’ve watched over the years, the killing of Sonya Massey will haunt me for the rest of my life. Despite my efforts to keep my emotions in check, I could not. After witnessing those final tortuous moments of Sonya Massey’s life, I was overcome by a sadness that I have only felt from the loss of a close loved one. Those last moments became frozen in time as my empathy set in and I felt fear, shock, confusion, and strangely, abandonment.
As I watched Sonya Massey’s life essence ebb away, I realized I was watching former deputy Sean Grayson’s humanity also dissipate into the void. Seemingly pleased with his handiwork, Grayson declared that his shot was fatal and Sonya Massey’s life was not even worth attempting to save.
How did someone who has a callous disregard for human life end up as an officer of the law? Reporting shows that Grayson was dismissed from several previous law enforcement jobs and had been admonished for his recklessness in the current one. In no universe should someone like Sean Grayson have been allowed to participate in the policing of citizens, yet these hiring practices appear to be par for the course.
There is virtually no argument that policing is a dangerous and demanding job which is why it should be paramount that only the most qualified people be allowed the authority that police wield. But the overarching question is when these lapses of police integrity happen, why do they seem to disproportionately skew toward people of color?
The unjustified killing of people of color, primarily black people, by police appears to be a feature and not a bug in American policing. One need only look back to the killing of George Floyd to see my point. While some might point to George Floyd’s unrelated criminal history and unfounded accusations of resisting arrest as reasons for his death, no such claims can be made about Sonya Massey, so what egregious act did she commit to warrant extrajudicial execution?
Why did Sonya Massey have to die? Do we chalk it up to some terrible misunderstanding or mistake, or is there something more sinister involved?
