Joe Biden has called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, moments after shocking police video was released showing an Illinois officer fatally shooting Sonya Massey after she called police fearing a home intruder.
In his first public statement since dropping his bid for re-election, Biden said the shooting of Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, by white Sangamon county sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson, in her home in Springfield, after a dispute over a pot of boiling water, “reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not”.
Biden, who is recovering from Covid at his home in Delaware, said Massey, “a beloved mother, friend, daughter and young Black woman … should be alive today”.
“When we call for help, all of us as Americans – regardless of who we are or where we live – should be able to do so without fearing for our lives,” he said in the statement, adding: “Sonya’s family deserves justice.”
“While we wait for the case to be prosecuted, let us pray to comfort the grieving,” he continued. “Congress must pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act now. Our fundamental commitment to justice is at stake.”
The act, known as HR-1280, addresses a range of issues in policing practices, including excessive force and racial bias and increases accountability for law enforcement misconduct. The bill was passed by the House in 2021 but stalled in the Senate.
The statement came as a protest march is planned for Monday evening after police bodycam video released showed a rapidly escalating situation.
Massey had been retrieving a pot of water from the stove after Grayson told her he did not want a house fire. Massey asked the officers – who visibly distanced themselves from her as she goes to handle the pot – why they moved away from her.
“Where you going?” she asks them.
“Away from your hot steaming water,” Grayson answers, with a laugh, before Massey responds: “Away from the hot steaming water? Oh, I’ll rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
“You better fucking not. I swear to God I’ll fucking shoot you right in your fucking face,” Grayson warns.
Massey can be heard saying, “I’m sorry,” as Grayson continues to advance. “I’m sorry,” she says again as Grayson, with his gun drawn, fires three shots, killing her instantly. After the shooting another deputy said he was going to get his medical kit.
“No, a head shot, dude, she’s done,” Grayson responds.
Later on in the video, Grayson calls Massey “fucking crazy”.
The prominent civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Massey’s family, previously said the video would “shock the conscience of America like the pictures of Emmett Till after he was lynched”, referring to the photograph released after Till was lynched in Mississippi in 1955.
Crump also likened the video to the police killing of Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times in the back by police in Chicago in 2014, and to the police murder of George Floyd in 2020.
“It is that senseless, that unnecessary, that unjustifiable, that unconstitutional,” Crump said at Massey’s funeral on Friday. “This video is tragic in every sense.”
Grayson has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and is being held without bond until his trial is set to begin. Springfield resident Tiara Standage told the Guardian that when she watched the George Floyd tape, “it pissed me off. When I watched this, it pissed me off even further.”
Antwaun Readus Sr, a local community activist, criticized city officials for spending money on police equipment but neglecting basic community services.
“They militarized the whole police department,” he said, predicting that when the police video of Massey’s death was released, “the whole country can go upside down.”
