EXCLUSIVE: Ex-deputy who killed Sonya Massey had history of complaints involving women

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois - The sheriff's deputy charged with fatally shooting Sonya Massey in the face has been the subject of several complaints alleging belligerent behavior toward women, a USA TODAY review of public records shows.

Despite the complaints, Sangamon County Sheriff's Deputy Sean P. Grayson was never prohibited from working in law enforcement and moved from one police agency to another, the records show, calling into question how he got the job he held when Massey was shot.

The July 6 killing of Massey has sparked national outcry over police brutality, coast-to-coast demonstrations and a federal probe by the Justice Department.

The hiring practices of the sheriff's department have also been under fire from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who earlier this week formally called for Sangamon Sheriff Jack Campbell to resign, expressing frustration with how the sheriff has responded to Massey's death. Amid the growing pressure and questions about Grayson's hiring, Campbell said on Friday he will step down and retire.

Springfield city leaders are calling for a review of the department's hiring practices in the wake of Massey's killing.

Springfield Board member Kevin McGuire called for an outside investigative team to look at the sheriff's department's hiring practices. "I would say that's paramount," McGuire said.

Among the complaints against Grayson that are on file in Illinois is an allegation by a former inmate at the Logan County Jail, who wrote in an official complaint filed in December 2022 that Grayson ordered her to expose herself to him.

“I felt very violated,” said Chelsey Lowe, an inmate confronted by Grayson in a drug search. Grayson denied the accusation and resigned from the Logan County sheriff’s office before the complaint was formally investigated.

With investigators no longer pursuing the complaint, Grayson in May 2023 joined the Sangamon sheriff's office, where he was employed when he went to Massey's home and shot the 36-year-old mother of two in her kitchen last month. He now faces three first-degree murder charges and has been fired.

The ex-deputy also faced accusations from his former wife in divorce proceedings that he treated her with "repeated acts of mental cruelty." A separate citizen complaint against Grayson in May alleged that he unlawfully tried to intimidate a 17-year-old girl while trying to enter a house without having obtained a warrant, yelling at her and threatening to "put her in cuffs" if she didn't let him inside. The complaint was found not sustained by one of Grayson's fellow officers.

USA TODAY’s review of public records about Grayson’s years in law enforcement and from his personal life comes amid national outrage and calls for police reform over the killing of the Black woman on July 6.

Grayson's criminal history also show he had two DUIs and a questionable discharge from the military.

The Sheriff's Office and an attorney for Grayson did not respond to repeated requests for comment on this story.

‘Feeling very afraid’

Grayson worked as a sheriff's deputy in Logan County, north of Springfield, from May 2022 to the end of April 2023, according to Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board records.

Part of his duties included working at the Logan County jail, where in December 2022, a female inmate filed a grievance accusing Grayson of “very inappropriate” behavior, according to a county disciplinary file obtained via open records request. 

Lowe wrote in her Logan County Sheriff's Department grievance form that during the course of being arrested, she told officers she had drugs hidden in her vagina.

Grayson told her to remove the drugs in front of him, according to the complaint. 

“I went to do as he instructed feeling very afraid and forced to do such an action,” she wrote.

She stopped at the insistence of a female officer and was taken to a doctor to remove the drugs. 

“While in the hospital bed completely exposed, Officer Grayson flung the curtain back and exposed me to him and I believe 2 other male officers,” Lowe wrote. 

“I felt very violated on both occasions and was unsure how to handle this,” she said.

Lowe could not be reached for comment.

Divorce over ‘extreme and repeated acts of mental cruelty’

In June 2015, Grayson's wife, Alexia Grayson, now Alexia Kay Pitchford, filed a petition for a dissolution of marriage in the Circuit Court of Macoupin County, the same county where Grayson grew up and briefly became a police officer for seven months in 2021.

Pitchford gave the following reason for seeking a divorce from Grayson: "The defendant has been guilty of extreme and repeated acts of mental cruelty, without cause or provocation." Pitchford and Pitchford’s mother did not respond to requests for comment on the nature of the cruelty referenced in the divorce papers.

The two did not have any children together, according to the court filings. The judge awarded Grayson's wife the right to return to her former name of Pitchford.

The first of Grayson's two DUIs came two months later in August, according to Macoupin County court records. He got his second DUI in July 2016.

Conduct as a Sangamon County deputy

The most recent complaint against Grayson’s conduct as a deputy came in May, less than two months before he shot Massey in her kitchen, according to his Sangamon County Sheriff's Office personnel file.

Grayson was the only officer named in the complaint, which describes a group of officers attempting to enter a residence without a warrant.

“We were provided no details of what was happening or why they were asking/demanding to be let in,” according to the man who filed the complaint. He and a 17-year-old girl answered the door when the officers arrived.

Grayson “began yelling” at the teenage girl to be let inside, according to the complaint. 

“Officer Grayson then wrongfully accused her of lying and obstructing an investigation. He then threatened her that if she didn’t let them in the house he was going to put her in cuffs and she would go to jail.”

The complainant wrote that Grayson directed his comments toward the teenage girl, not at him.  

“It is 100% unlawful to threaten detainment and being arrested [for] not letting officers into the home with no warrant," the complainant wrote. "More specifically attacking a 17 year old girl and failing to contact adult supervisors, or parents of any kind. At the time of demanding to be let in, Officer Grayson chose to speak to the young girl in an inappropriate manner . . . attempting to intimidate her.”

Lieutenant Wes Wooden of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office carried out an informal review of the complaint and found his fellow officer’s actions were warranted and the complaint was not sustained, according to county records.

Wooden is the same county officer who led the investigation into Grayson’s background when he was first hired at the Sangamon sheriff's office. The office did not respond to requests for comment from Wooden.

Complaints against law-enforcement officers are typically investigated by other officers and are seldom sustained, said Samuel Sinyangwe, executive director of Mapping Police Violence, a nonprofit that tracks policing data. It's not uncommon for an officer with 20 or 30 complaints against them to remain on the force, Sinyangwe said.  

Massey shooting

Two months later, Grayson and another deputy arrived at Massey's home after the 36-year-old woman called 911 about a possible intruder.

Massey's call for help in the early hours of July 6 brought the dimunitive woman and the 6 foot 4 officer with a history of violence towards women together.

Body-worn camera footage from the encounter released on July 22 shows the hulking son of a Navy Seal had little patience for the dimunitive woman right from the start.

“You coming to the door or not,” Grayson yells, hammering at the door. “Hurry up.”

Inside Massey’s kitchen, Grayson told her to remove a pot of boiling water from the stove. 

She picked up the pot and said the words Grayson claims made him fear for his life: "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus."

Dropping his hand to his gun, Grayson shouted back, “you better f------ not or I swear to God I will shoot you right in the f------ face," according to a transcript of the encounter.

Grayson drew his gun, Massey apologized and then ducked. Grayson moved toward her and fired three times, hitting her in the head.