Illinois Times illustration by Brandon Turley.
Former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson, shown in the image at top, is charged with the July 6 murder of Woodside Township resident Sonya Massey. Former Springfield police officer Michael Egan, shown in middle image, is charged with aggravated DUI, and the way he was treated by Springfield police officers responding to a car-motorcycle collision he allegedly caused on Sept. 5 is the topic of an ongoing internal Springfield Police Department investigation. New Sangamon County Sheriff Paula Crouch, a veteran former SPD officer, is shown in the bottom image (second from right) as she is sworn in at a Sept. 18 meeting of the County Board.
Never in his 26½-year career had he seen it before.
Springfield Police Chief Kenneth Scarlette, 48, said he and one of his deputy chiefs were driving in an unmarked car on South Grand Avenue to get lunch on the city’s east side when a young man on the side of the road, without provocation, spotted the two officers’ blue uniforms and “gave us the middle finger.”
Relations between the police and certain segments of the community, especially low-income and Black residents, have been challenging for decades. But this interaction was a few weeks after Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, was shot and killed in her Woodside Township home by a white Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy on July 6 in a case that has generated national and international attention. Massey, who struggled with mental illness, had called 911 when she thought she spotted a prowler in her neighborhood just south of Springfield city limits.
The obscene gesture from the Black pedestrian toward white police officers in the middle of the day was an obvious sign relations were getting worse, Scarlette said.
He said it’s “disheartening” that his department’s officers have faced more verbal abuse from the public in recent months as they do their jobs.
“The trust has been completely eroded,” Scarlette said. “It’s our goal to rebuild that trust with our community. It’s been very difficult.”
With membership on the full 14-member Massey Commission finalized Oct. 1, the all-volunteer group, with one of Sonya Massey’s cousins as a cochair and another cousin serving on the commission, faces a daunting task. The goal is to begin restoring trust in area police agencies while taking into account the institutional racism, poverty, gaps in mental health care and police pay disparities that all contribute to the issue.
Underlying the challenge of the Massey Commission is a pervasive level of cynicism among the public, resulting in suggestions of sinister motives to conceal problems and blunt meaningful change. Whether that cynicism can be overcome remains to be seen.
The Rev. T. Ray McJunkins opined on the cynicism after a public “listening session” conducted by the commission Sept. 16 and shortly before he resigned as a cochair of the commission.
McJunkins said of the commission, “We’ve done so much in such a short time, only to come here and hear the people say, basically, ‘You’re not moving fast enough, you’re not doing anything.’ It’s almost like whatever we do, you’re going to get a backlash,” he said.
But McJunkins said he didn’t blame people for being angry.
The circumstances of Sonya Massey’s demise put Massey’s name among other Black Americans, such as George Floyd of Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor of Louisville, Kentucky, whose deaths at the hands of police became catalysts for deeper local and national discussions about race, police brutality and policing in general.
McJunkins recalled Grayson’s words to Sonya Massey, captured on a police body-worn camera, when Grayson fired his gun at her three times and hit her once.
“For someone to literally tell you, ‘I will shoot you in the face’ and then do just that, that is what stirred the community up,” McJunkins said. “It started a fire, and this is a fire that is hard to put out.”
PHOTO BY 1221 PHOTOGRAPHY
Pastor T. Ray McJunkins at the first “listening session” held Sept. 16. Two members of the public questioned McJunkins’ integrity and referenced unspecified allegations of sexual misconduct, calling on him to resign as a cochair of the Massey Commission. After initially stating he would not step down, he later did do following publication of an Illinois Times article.
McJunkins’ resignation came amid allegations that the 62-year-old Black pastor of Union Baptist Church groped the late Emma Shafer, a 24-year-old social activist, while Shafer worked for the Faith Coalition for the Common Good in early 2023.
McJunkins addressed Shafer’s allegations, which he denied, in an Illinois Times story published online Sept. 23. Three days later, Sangamon County Board Chair Andy Van Meter, a Republican, and state Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield – the pair who first appointed McJunkins and the other two cochairs to the commission – announced the appointment of two new cochairs.
More incidents feed tension
Adding to public consternation with police in the wake of Sonya Massey’s death are several high-profile deaths of members of the public involving sheriff’s deputies and Sangamon County Jail correctional officers, as well as the suffocation death of Springfield resident Earl Moore Jr. after he was placed face-down on a LifeStar Ambulance stretcher in December 2022.
Other incidents are more recent, including a Sept. 5 late-night collision between a motorcycle and a newly retired Springfield police officer on East Lake Shore Drive that resulted in the couple on the cycle being hospitalized, one with life-altering injuries.
Favorable treatment of the retired officer, Michael Egan, 51, by police responding to the scene has been alleged. No decisions have been made on potential disciplinary action against the responding officers. Egan faces charges of aggravated DUI and making an improper turn that led to the crash.
Also churning emotions among residents is a Sept. 4 police-involved shooting in the 1100 block of South 18th Street resulting in one man suspected of shooting at and striking an occupied home being hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. The incident remains under investigation by Illinois State Police.
All of the public frustration created a flashpoint Sept. 9 – a scuffle and pushing match between Springfield police with plastic shields and demonstrators who tried to enter City Hall.
Two demonstrators, Tiara Standage, 34, and Brandon Dorr, 27, both Springfield residents, were taken into police custody and later released while potential criminal charges related to their alleged conduct at the event are being considered, according to Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser. Standage was the event organizer and has also been involved in organizing numerous protests related to Sonya Massey’s death.
PHOTO BY 1221 PHOTOGRAPHY
Approximately 90 minutes into a Sept. 9 demonstration outside Springfield Police Department headquarters, a scuffle broke out between protesters and about a dozen police officers with plastic shields. Tiara Standage, the event organizer, and one other demonstrator were taken into police custody.
Scarlette said the confrontation resulted from “the community expressing fear and frustration, anger and grief – all of those emotions – and the pot is boiling over.
“We have to do our part as community members to try and quell some of this emotion and frustration,” he said. “A lot of that can be done simply through the power of speaking and trying to hear people out.”
The commission’s work going forward
Dr. Jerry Kruse, a family physician who is dean and provost of Springfield’s Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, said cynicism directed at local leaders and the Massey Commission is to be expected based on what the medical school has found in studying mistrust of the medical establishment, especially among Black people and other chronically underserved segments of society.
Kruse, 71, is one of the Massey Commission’s original cochairs and currently serves with cochairs JoAnn Johnson, a retired Illinois State Police colonel, and Sonya Massey’s cousin, Shadia Massey.
Dealing with the mistrust starts with developing processes “to listen to everyone and then engaging with every walk of life in the community,” Kruse said. “I feel really good about how it’s moved forward.”
Johnson, 56, a Springfield resident, said she understood the cynicism, too. A 56-year-old Black woman who was born and raised in Chicago and who worked undercover in the Chicago area, Johnson said she “sees both sides” when it comes to cultural bias by police officers and the challenges police face.
“I myself have been a victim of biased policing as a police officer working in an undercover capacity,” she said. “I just want people to have an open mind as things get under way.”
As a consultant with Florida-based Fair and Impartial Policing LLC, Johnson currently trains members of police agencies across the country on recognizing “implicit bias.”
When asked her reaction to the bodycam video of Sonya Massey’s death, she said, “I could only think this did not need to happen. … I just know that did not have to happen.”
The commission was set in motion in mid-August by state Sen. Turner and County Board Chair Van Meter. There was a delay in naming members of the commission beyond the original cochairs, who also included Nina Harris, former president and chief executive officer of Springfield Urban League. The two new cochairs joining Kruse were announced Oct. 1, along with the other 11 commissioners: Gerry Castles, Calvin Christian, Sunshine Clemons, Veronica Espina, Harvey Hall, Kathryn Harris, Sontae Massey, Susan Phillips, Kristin Rubbelke, Bob Wesley and Brian Wojcicki.
In addition to the cochairs, about 50 citizens – and not any elected officials – were appointed to the commission’s four working groups: law enforcement hiring, training, wellness and cultural competency; integrated mental health services and emergency response; community education on public health and safety; and economic disparities and service accessibility.
Future meetings of the commission and working groups will be public but haven’t been scheduled yet, Kruse said.
The Sangamon County Board, which created the commission in a resolution Sept. 10 and provided $175,000 in startup funding, also has received its share of criticism.
Former sheriff Jack Campbell, a Republican, retired at age 60 amid widespread calls for his resignation due to hiring Grayson in 2023. Grayson’s two misdemeanor DUI convictions before going to work for Campbell, along with his misconduct while a police officer in Kincaid and at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, were revealed by the news media after Massey’s death.
Several Democrats on the GOP-controlled County Board, as well as members of the public, said Van Meter nominated and pushed through a vote on Campbell’s replacement too quickly and without enough time for vetting and public comment. Former longtime Springfield Police Department officer Paula Crouch was approved 23-0 as the county’s first female sheriff, with two Democrats voting “present.”
Van Meter defended his pick, praising Crouch’s law-enforcement qualifications and her perspective as “a former victim of sexual harassment and a working single mom who overcame financial difficulties.”
Crouch, 51, a rural Williamsville resident who is married to Robert Crouch, Riverton’s police chief, said, “I bring a lot to the community.” She pledged to boost what she expected to be low morale at the sheriff’s department while working with members of the community to restore trust.
She was cautious as she elaborated in an interview with Illinois Times.
“I’m not saying anything needs to be drastically changed,” Crouch said, but she would bring a “different viewpoint. I’d like to build the relationship back with the community to work on that trust and work with the Massey Commission so that I can see what their recommendations are and see how we can come back around.”
She added: “None of us operate at our best every day, so we can always improve at where we are and improve to be better. And I think that’s where we have to start out to make changes. You have to have a team of the community members, a team of us at the sheriff’s department, and find out exactly where it is that these deficiencies are and what needs to be improved. And I don’t think anything can happen overnight.”
Jenna Broom, 38, a Springfield resident and state worker, told the County Board that she suspects Grayson was hired because of nepotism – his fiance’s father was a longtime sheriff’s department employee. Before he resigned, Campbell denied Grayson’s connections played a role in his hiring.
Broom said she hopes county officials learn from Grayson’s example and examine the background of other department employees.
“The restoration of trust is huge,” she said. “There is a lack of trust in this community, in this department and police in general.”
Springfield resident Marcus Rothenberg, 33, a voice-over artist, said at the Massey Commission listening session that his upbringing in Springfield and experiences with the police shaped his current view that law enforcement locally is biased, unnecessarily aggressive and unfair.
“If I need help, I won’t call the cops,” he said. “I’ll call someone that will help. I would love to say it’s just a broken system, but unfortunately, I fear that the system is working exactly as intended.”
Evan Brown, 35, a Springfield native and freelance video director and producer, has been among the coalition of activists criticizing the police. He was one of the more than 200 citizens who applied to be on the Massey Commission and was appointed to the law enforcement working group.
“I definitely saw there was a need for people to represent more of the community perspective,” he said. “I am open-minded. I hope there will be some actionable items, that it won’t be just a PR move or a delay tactic for the powers that be.”
Contentious County Board debate
Several Democrats on the County Board and one Republican said they don’t want to wait six months or a year for the commission’s recommendations.
But they were defeated by the rest of the Republicans and some Democratic colleagues when they tried to amend the resolution creating the commission so additional hiring standards would be put in place for the sheriff’s department until action is taken on future recommendations.
PHOTO BY ANNETTE FULGENZI
Paula Crouch, far right, was sworn in as the new Sangamon County sheriff on Sept. 18 following a contentious debate at the County Board meeting over an amendment that would have put additional hiring standards in place for the sheriff’s department. It was tabled on a 19-6 vote, with Chairman Andy Van Meter stating he believed it was not legally enforceable.
The new standards would have included expanding the role of the Sangamon County Sheriff Merit Commission in hirings, requiring background checks to include Freedom of Information Act requests to public bodies that previously employed applicants, and prohibiting hirings of deputies or correctional officers if they had two or more misdemeanor DUI convictions in the past 10 years or one DUI conviction in the past five years.
The amendment was tabled on a 19-6 vote on Sept. 18, with five Democrats and Republican Annette Fulgenzi of Sherman voting “no.” Democrats Linda Douglas-Williams and Vera Small, both of Springfield, joined Republicans in voting to table the proposal.
Van Meter said the amendment was “well-intentioned” but not legally enforceable. The County Board doesn’t have the power to dictate how a sheriff runs his or her department and hires people, Van Meter said.
Van Meter said supporters of the amendment were “misleading people as to how county government works.” He said later: “This is an exercise in preening before the public without really doing anything. … All of the elected county officials run their offices completely independently of the County Board. We have no administrative authority over those offices, zero.”
Crouch, a Republican, will serve until November 2026, the end of what would have been Campbell’s four-year term. Crouch hasn’t said whether she is interested in running for a full term. She could voluntarily adopt provisions in the amendment but hasn’t said whether she would do so.
However, board members Tony DelGiorno and Marc Ayers, both Springfield Democrats, believe the board does have the authority to set hiring standards because of the board’s budgetary powers over the sheriff’s department.
“We as a board can’t abdicate our own responsibility to the Massey family, to the public in general, to law enforcement, to make sure that we have the tools in place for our own sheriff’s department to be able to hold its head up high again in this community,” DelGiorno, an attorney in private practice, said.
The amendment addressed many of the public’s concerns, he said, “to protect the integrity of the sheriff’s department moving forward” until the Massey Commission can study and issue its own recommendations.
DelGiorno pointed to what he anticipates will be a future court settlement with the Massey family over what is expected to be a wrongful death lawsuit when he said, “We are listening to the taxpayers of Sangamon County, who are ultimately going to be writing the check for the misdeeds of deputy Grayson.”
Ayers slammed his fellow board members after the Sept. 18 vote, saying: “What a shameful moment in this county’s history. … This is the smallest of steps. I cannot believe you guys have the audacity to vote ‘no’ on such a common-sense thing.”
However, Van Meter replied, “Let the Massey Commission do its work.”
After the meeting, Van Meter said new hiring standards such as disqualifying people from law enforcement jobs based on misdemeanor DUI convictions and requiring FOIA requests as part of the backgrounding process could be required for police agencies statewide only by legislation approved by the General Assembly and governor.
Many of the Massey Commission’s future recommendations may have to be considered by state lawmakers, Van Meter said. The County Board could help pay to carry out some recommendations, depending on what they are, he said.
“I think the sheriff has indicated that she is very open to the Massey Commission’s suggestions, but the board isn’t going to tell the sheriff to do it,” Van Meter said. “The Massey Commission is going to convince the sheriff to do it.”
County Board member Gina Lathan, a Springfield Democrat, supported the amendment and voted not to table it. But after it failed to pass, she made a plea for unity out of respect for Sonya Massey and her family so another tragedy can be prevented.
“We are moving in a way that’s very dangerous, in a way where we are not working together,” Lathan said. “We’re pitting people against each other. As a community, we need to figure out a way to come together and get some resolution, because this back and forth is ridiculous.”
