PEORIA — The cousin of a Springfield-area lady shot by an ex-cop accused of her homicide stated Friday he was devastated to be taught his relative might have survived her gunshot wounds had first help been administered sooner.
Former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson is going through three counts of first-degree homicide for killing Sonya Massey, an unarmed Black lady, in her kitchen after she had referred to as police to report a prowler.
On Thursday, a forensics skilled testifying on behalf of the prosecution stated one in all three bullets Grayson fired hit Massey in her eye however didn’t contact her mind.
Dr. Nathaniel Patterson stated the bullet as a substitute severed her carotid artery. Patterson, who carried out the post-mortem on Massey, testified she might have survived if somebody on the scene had managed her bleeding shortly.
Massey’s cousin Sontae Massey stated that realization is painful.
“Understanding that my cousin may very well be right here proper now, it’s simply devastating. I imply, not solely to me, clearly, however to my complete household. We wish Sonya to be nonetheless right here,” Massey instructed reporters after courtroom adjourned Friday. “I nonetheless take into consideration Sonya each day and wish to name her each day. That might have occurred if [the responding officers] simply did their jobs.”
Physique-worn digicam footage from Grayson, in addition to the opposite deputy who was on the scene, reveals Grayson initially discouraging his companion from retrieving a medical package from his automobile proper after Massey was shot.
“Nah, it’s a head shot, dude, she’s achieved,” Grayson stated on the footage.
Friday marked the tip of the primary week of a homicide trial in a case that has drawn nationwide consideration for its racial dynamics. Civil rights legal professional Ben Crump, who has labored with the households of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, helped the Massey household safe a $10 million settlement with Sangamon County. He’s anticipated to attend the trial subsequent week.
Grayson, who’s white, contends he shot Massey in self-defense. His protection staff argues Massey was a menace for not following “agency and unequivocal” orders to take away a pot of boiling water from her range prime.
Earlier within the week, jurors noticed the harrowing footage of that deadly interplay from Grayson and his companion’s physique cameras.
Through the 36-minute lengthy video, Grayson may be seen yelling profanities at Massey and threatening to shoot her in her face earlier than firing his weapon at her thrice. Massey then falls to her kitchen ground as blood swimming pools round her.
When the jury watched the video, some jurors recoiled of their chairs. One sobbed and held up her pocket book to dam her line of imaginative and prescient of the courtroom’s video display. The jury’s solely Black member bowed his head on the ground after seeing the gunshots and didn’t watch the remainder of the video.
In the meantime, Grayson — who had appeared relaxed through the trial — had his head lowered and was fidgeting in his seat.
The model police had beforehand made public blurred out Massey’s physique as she lay dying. However the footage proven in courtroom displayed all the scene in all of its grisly element, prompting Sontae Massey and Massey’s mom, Donna Massey, to go away the courtroom in tears.
“We have now to relive this each day,” Sontae Massey stated Friday. “We have now been reliving this for an entire 12 months and 6 months.”
