Sonya Massey - Shot dead in own home

[g4ry13]

I saw the story this morning about Sonya Massey who called the Police worried that someone had broken into her home. Two Police officers were in her home and requested she turn off a pot of boiling water. Whilst holding the pot and making a joke, one officer took it as a threat and pulled out his gun. Sonya went to put the pot on the floor and the officer shot her dead.

It seems to be a case of some heavy-handed trigger happy policing.

It will be interesting to see whether this sparks uproar and demonstrations à la George Floyd, or is quickly forgotten about.

[119]

To save anyone having to look for it.


https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/22/us/sonya-massey...


Can't see this ending well for the officers tbh.

[J6542]

You only have to watch the YouTube videos of channels like “The Civil Rights Lawyer “ to see how U.S police can turn what should be simple interactions with the public into a complete mess.
Thousands of different forces, with a lot of the smaller ones having very poor training. Many officers who are sacked from one force have no problem getting a job with another. Their whole system is a mess.

[g4ry13]

[redacted]

[simon_harris]

One of the common themes I see with US Police interactions is that they need much better training and oversight.

This is in no way comparable with George Floyd (or even Brianna taylor) and I don't see how 2 cops attending a report of a burglary can end up shooting the homeowner in her kitchen.

[Terminator X]

The flip side of this is how easy it is for USA police to get shot. If i was in America I'd do everything they say as slowly as possible to avoid that risk.

TX.

[liner33]

Mmmm i dont know .

Its 1am and a woman with mental health issues starts incoherently rambling and then picks up a pan of boiling water and says "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus" , refuses to put the pan down when ordered and makes the deputy feel threatened

[matrignano]

fking hell!

I rebuke you in the name of God - headshot

why???

[J6542]

liner33 said:

Mmmm i dont know .

Its 1am and a woman with mental health issues starts incoherently rambling and then picks up a pan of boiling water and says "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus" , refuses to put the pan down when ordered and makes the deputy feel threatened

Leave the house, would be one way they could defuse the situation.

[Richard-390a0]

liner33 said:

Mmmm i dont know .

Its 1am and a woman with mental health issues starts incoherently rambling and then picks up a pan of boiling water and says "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus" , refuses to put the pan down when ordered and makes the deputy feel threatened

Yeah it's a slightly different scenario to what the O/P suggests.

[Tom8]

J6542 said:

You only have to watch the YouTube videos of channels like “The Civil Rights Lawyer “ to see how U.S police can turn what should be simple interactions with the public into a complete mess.
Thousands of different forces, with a lot of the smaller ones having very poor training. Many officers who are sacked from one force have no problem getting a job with another. Their whole system is a mess.

Problem is, anyone in the US can also be carrying a gun so the state of mind of a US police officer is wholly different to that of one in the UK.

[NDA]

liner33 said:

Mmmm i dont know .

Its 1am and a woman with mental health issues starts incoherently rambling and then picks up a pan of boiling water and says "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus" , refuses to put the pan down when ordered and makes the deputy feel threatened

I was wondering about this too... if you are in an enclosed space (small kitchen) being threatened by a Jebus-Loon.... hmmm. Boiling water can lead to life changing injuries.

I'm not saying the Police were right, but there sound to be mitigating circumstances.

[J6542]

Tom8 said:

J6542 said:

You only have to watch the YouTube videos of channels like “The Civil Rights Lawyer “ to see how U.S police can turn what should be simple interactions with the public into a complete mess.
Thousands of different forces, with a lot of the smaller ones having very poor training. Many officers who are sacked from one force have no problem getting a job with another. Their whole system is a mess.

Problem is, anyone in the US can also be carrying a gun so the state of mind of a US police officer is wholly different to that of one in the UK.

That’s no excuse for poor training and the fire and re-hire that goes on. A lot of small town police departments are rotten to the core.

[Senex]

I'm curious. Do they not have firearms tactics training in the US?

I believe the British police would have scenarios like this in their training.

[Senex]

NDA said:

I was wondering about this too... if you are in an enclosed space (small kitchen) being threatened by a Jebus-Loon.... hmmm. Boiling water can lead to life changing injuries.

I'm not saying the Police were right, but there sound to be mitigating circumstances.

He is about 15 feet from an old woman with obstacles in the way. He could also have taken a couple of steps back. Also he did not give her much time to comply. Also, would not the Taser have been a better option?

[RedWhiteMonkey]

Watching that clip there appears to be so many things wrong with the level of police training in the US.

Why didn't one of the police officers simply turn off the stove if they were concerned by it?

Is shouting "I swear to God I'll fking shoot you in your fking face" at anyone, let alone someone with suspected mental health issues, a good way to defuse a situation?

Is it standard practice to shoot people in the head at point blank range?

Edited by RedWhiteMonkey on Tuesday 23 July 11:28

[BikeBikeBIke]

Senex said:

NDA said:

I was wondering about this too... if you are in an enclosed space (small kitchen) being threatened by a Jebus-Loon.... hmmm. Boiling water can lead to life changing injuries.

I'm not saying the Police were right, but there sound to be mitigating circumstances.

He is about 15 feet from an old woman with obstacles in the way. He could also have taken a couple of steps back. Also he did not give her much time to comply. Also, would not the Taser have been a better option?

Yes. That's why he's not saying to police were right.

[Derek Smith]

Senex said:

I'm curious. Do they not have firearms tactics training in the US?

I believe the British police would have scenarios like this in their training.

I was in a firearms team in the City of London. Three American officers came to a Met training unit in Shoreditch and the instructors there ran the team through their normal room-entering scenario, consisting of three interconnected rooms. We'd trained there. It wasn't easy to come out alive.

These three Americans resolved the issue, with no innocent casualties, in less time than it took us to clear the first room. They were impressive. Awe-inspiring and they showed us just how green we were. That said, they were in their force's firearms unit (like we were) and were familiar with room entering under threat.

A Washington Capitol police officer stayed with me and my family for a few days. She told stories of her experiences, including only going out three-up on car patrol, with one to do the stops, one to cover the officer and the third to cover roofs to 'hinder' snipers. Their helicopters required frequent replacement blades, and armour protection on the base of the cabin area and below the fuel tanks as whenever they flew over certain areas, they would be shot at, most 'only' with hand guns, but occasionally high powered rifles with armour-piercing shells. 'They just use us for target practice,' she said in mitigation.

Her training with firearms, including tactics and support, was little more than attending a range regularly.

Shootings, similar to this one, seem to be perpetuated by officers who lack sufficient training to carry a gun. The accuracy was spot-on. Tactics, particularly with defusing a situation, no so good.

It's a tragedy of course. Heartbreaking. She had a child. So easily avoided.

A few years ago, he'd either not be charged or else would be found NG. Nowadays, it seems things are a little different.

[g4ry13]

Richard-390a0 said:

liner33 said:

Mmmm i dont know .

Its 1am and a woman with mental health issues starts incoherently rambling and then picks up a pan of boiling water and says "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus" , refuses to put the pan down when ordered and makes the deputy feel threatened

Yeah it's a slightly different scenario to what the O/P suggests.

Which important part do you feel I omitted from the scenario?

I felt the opening paragraph of my post was fairly neutral.

Sonya was bending down to put the pot on the floor when the officer fired his weapon.

[g4ry13]

Senex said:

NDA said:

I was wondering about this too... if you are in an enclosed space (small kitchen) being threatened by a Jebus-Loon.... hmmm. Boiling water can lead to life changing injuries.

I'm not saying the Police were right, but there sound to be mitigating circumstances.

He is about 15 feet from an old woman with obstacles in the way. He could also have taken a couple of steps back. Also he did not give her much time to comply. Also, would not the Taser have been a better option?

I believe she was 36.