CHICAGO, IL - During the National Association of Black Journalists' convention, former President Donald Trump was questioned about his support for police immunity as it relates to the officer-involved fatal shooting of Sonya Massey.
"There's a different between being a bad person and making an innocent mistake. If somebody made an innocent mistake, I would want to help that person," he clarified.
Body camera footage released by the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office (SCSO) shows the chaotic scene that ended with 36-year-old Massey, an unarmed black woman, being fatally shot inside her Springfield home on Saturday, July 6th after reportedly calling 911 for a possible intruder. According to FOX 32, former SCSO deputy Sean Grayson has been accused of fatally shooting Massey as she was moving a pot of boiling water off of her stove.
In the body camera footage, after Massey was shot, Grayson can be heard saying that he was "not taking (expletive) boiling water to the (expletive) face." He can be heard telling responding police, "She had boiling water and came at me, with boiling water. She said she was going to rebuke me in the name of Jesus and came at me with boiling water."
Grayson has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He is currently being held in the Sangamon County Jail. He has also been terminated from his employment. Further, in a historical move, the police union has withdrawn the grievance filed on Grayson's behalf regarding his termination before conviction.
On Wednesday, July 31st, during the convention, Trump was asked by Semafor politics reporter Kadia Goba about qualified immunity for Grayson.
The conversation, which is broken down below, follows Trump's claim that, if elected, police officers could be immune from prosecution. Goba said to Trump, "So, Sonya Massey, someone from Illinois, an unarmed black woman, was shot the other day in her home by a deputy sheriff. The deputy has since been charged with murder. You said police would get immunity from prosecution if you win. Why would someone like that officer have immunity in your opinion?"
Trump responded by saying, "Immunity? I don't know the exact case, but I saw something and it didn't ... it didn't look good to me. Are you talking with the water, right?" Goba said, "Police unions are not backing this person either." Trump asked, "Are they going to be charging the officer? I guess they're charging the officer?"
Goba pressed on, "So, why should he receive immunity?"
Trump responded, "Well he might not. I mean it depends. It depends on what happens. I'm talking about people that are, much different cases than that. We need people to protect ourselves. By the way, in Chicago, as an example, a few weeks ago, July 4th weekend, we had 117 shootings and 17 deaths. Nobody wants that ... We need to have our police officers have their respect and dignity back. In this particular case, I saw something that didn't look good to me. I didn't like it. I didn't like it at all."
Goba asked, "So, can you get a little more specific back to the immunity question? Who would make those changes, those distinctions?"
This is when Trump responded, "For the most part, for the most part, people are protected by their unions, by their police unions or by their police departments. But I'm saying if I felt, or if a group of people would feel that somebody was being unfairly prosecuted because the person did a good job ... or made a mistake, and innocent mistake. There's a different between being a bad person and making an innocent mistake. If somebody made an innocent mistake, I would want to help that person."
Goba asked, "What would those exceptions be?" Trump responded by saying, "You go after somebody and it's a very close call and it's very dangerous and you know ... a policeman's life, and woman, is a very difficult thing because sometimes you have less than a second to make a life and death decision. And sometimes very bad decisions are made. They're not made from an evil standpoint, but they're made from the standpoint of they made a mistake."
According to the Associated Press (AP), in an interview, Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said that it will the rest of his professional life to rebuild trust within the agency after the officer-involved fatal shooting of Massey.
He said that he was "horrified" by the body camera footage showing Grayson shoot Massey. He said, "We will spend the rest of my career, certainly, trying to med these fences and build bridges to the community to establish trust again. When they call us for help, they expect us to help. Sean Grayson did not help Sonya Massey. And he alone is responsible for his actions."
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The opinions reflected in this article are not necessarily the opinions of LET
Comments
2024-08-06T13:42-0500 | Comment by: Michelle
I’m rather surprised, LET, I watched the body cam video. She WAS NOT unarmed, she had a pot of boiling water. And if you watch the video, she threw it at the officer. There was a black office chair that can be clearly seen steaming from where she threw the water at the officer - the chair was in front of him. You can also hear the officer comment that the water reached their feet after she threw it.