Video footage was released on Monday, July 22, by the Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office of the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey, a Black woman who called 911 because she was afraid of a potential intruder. Her first words upon opening the door to county sheriff’s deputies were, “Don’t hurt me.” However, one of those deputies fatally shot her during that visit to her home.
Ms. Massey had a disability — her family reported that she had mental health issues. Officers should have de-escalated the situation. The deputies should have recognized that Ms. Massey was in mental health crisis. She should be alive today, along with many more people with disabilities whose lives were cut short by police.
Access Living is deeply committed to ensuring that Illinois law enforcement has the full capacity to ensure that anyone in Illinois is, in fact, safe from the police. Far too often, police engagement with disabled people, especially those of color, can have fatal consequences. Furthermore, we adamantly believe that people in mental health crisis deserve mental health services, including mobile mental health crisis response.
In 2021, Illinois passed a law called the Community Emergency Services and Supports Act, or CESSA. It was passed through the efforts of Access Living’s grassroots advocacy group called Advance Your Leadership Power (AYLP), with a host of community allies, after the police killing of 15-year-old Stephon Watts – also an Illinois resident- who was experiencing a mental health crisis.
CESSA is designed with disability and racial justice in mind. It requires 911 to coordinate with mental health providers when responding to calls where a mental or behavioral health situation is present and requires a mobile crisis team to respond if there is no criminal activity. This law responds in part to alarming national data that shows half of those killed across the nation by police have a disability. CESSA’s implementation has faced repeated delays, but for us, the murder of Sonya Massey makes it even more urgent that communities across the state build local systems to allow 911 to dispatch mobile crisis teams and allow other emergency responders to call such teams in when the situation does not involve the commission of a crime or threats of violence.