'Their Record Goes With Them': Pritzker Signs Police Reform Law After Sonya Massey Killing

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday signed the Sonya Massey Bill into law, requiring those applying to become police officers in Illinois to disclose their personnel files from prior law enforcement jobs.

The bill is named after Massey, who was shot July 6, 2024, by then-Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson after she requested police assistance at her Springfield-area home. Grayson, who has since been terminated and charged with murder, had worked at five other law enforcement agencies since mid-2020 before being hired by Sangamon County.

READ MORE: 'How Are You Still Employed': Deputy Who Killed Sonya Massey Raised Many Red Flags

"It is my hope that Illinois can lead the nation in commonsense policing so that when an officer goes from department to department, their record goes with them,” Massey’s father, James Wilburn, said in a news release announcing the law’s signing.

The new law requires the release of prospective officers' personnel records between agencies and hiring boards. The bill passed in the Illinois House of Representatives and state senate with strong bipartisan support, according to the news release.

'How Are You Still Employed': Deputy Who Killed Sonya Massey Raised Many Red Flags

Grayson had multiple incidents while working in law enforcement before coming to Sangamon County, including ignoring an order to halt a high-speed chase, reaching 110 mph and hitting a deer. A woman he arrested complained he ordered her to remove drugs from her body cavity in front of him, according to Logan County records, and that he later burst through a curtain while she was having the drugs removed at a hospital.

Grayson was also charged with driving under the influence in 2015 and 2016, and pleaded guilty both times.

Massey, who was Black and struggled with mental illness, called 911 around 1 a.m. about a possible prowler and was shot by Grayson after an exchange between Massey and law enforcement related to Massey moving a pot of hot water off a stove, body camera footage showed.

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