Holy sh*t…body cam footage of murder gets released

In the reports I've read, it said the officers told her to take the pot of boiling water off the stove to avoid starting a fire.

Also, she actually called the police to report seeing someone suspicious outside her home. And they come in to see a woman in the kitchen with a boiling pot of water, and this is what happens. It is beyond messed up.

 

No kidding. We should make sure nobody even considers whether this was racially motivated.

And if it was, we need to make sure nobody gets their emotions “stirred up”. People need to chill the f-ck out. If, If this was a white racist cop killing a black woman because he thought she was subhuman, that’s just life. It happens. Move on.

Did I get that right, assh-le?

 

I didn't watch the video (and really don't want to). If she had a pot of boiling water in her hands before getting shot, that is very strange. Why remove the pot from the kitchen, rather than just turning off the stove?

 

Why wouldn't turning off the stove be sufficient? Was the water boiling over because she wasn't paying attention to it while the cops were there, and then they told her to remove it? That would explain the spillage.

 

So the story is that she was not in a right state of mind and the cops had reason to believe she was about to douse them with boiling water from the pot while the cops were telling her to put the pot down? If that story checks out, I agree the 1st degree murder charge will not stick.

 

The unhinged cop got triggered by what she said “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus”. He heard that phrase the first time and weren’t sure what he heard so he asked her to repeat it. When he heard it clearly the second time, that’s when he lost it and all hell broke loose and that poor woman lost her life.
I still am cannot wrap my head around how someone can lose their life no needlessly like that. This crazy cop needs to do life in prison 10x for sure.

 

I’m hearing on the news that Grayson had been fired previously from another PD and has two DUI’s on his record.

 

Well, I am not going to watch a video of someone being shot to death in the face.

Just trying to piece together the story that the defense will claim. It is clear to me the cop escalated the situation, is responsible for the death, and was unbelievably callous in the aftermath. Whether he thought, in the moment, that she was about to throw the water at them is relevant to the case, regardless of whether he could have easily diffused the situation at multiple points in the chain of events.

 

I was very puzzled by the account that her simply saying those words caused the cop to go apeshit.

I think it was the combination of her holding the pot of scalding water in her hands, saying those words in response to them telling her to put it down, and taking steps towards them when the cops forcefully told her to put the pot down again, that triggered the cop.

There are so many things the cops could have done differently to avoid this — keep a distance, speak to her more calmly while recognizing she might be having a mental health episode, giving her clear and calm directions at the start not to lift the pot of water if they were so concerned about it. Couple that with extreme callousness in using deadly force, this cop needs to see significant jail time if there’s any justice.

 

8:30 -- Shooting cop points to kitchen (not sure if he's noticing the stove or pointing to the mess in the kitchen as a possible location for her ID she is looking for)

8:33 -- Massey stands up and goes to kitchen, says "I'm gonna move this" (?) and grabs the pot

8:35 -- Shooting cop says "we don't need a fire while we're here"

8:40 -- Massey turns off the stove, picks up pot of boiling water, says "I'll put it in the sink" (?)

8:45 -- Recording cop nervously laughs and backs away from kitchen, Massey says "Why you moving? Where you going?", cop says "Away from your hot steaming water".

8:50 -- Massey says "Away from my hot steaming water? I rebuke you in the name of Jesus." (twice) Shooting cop threatens her back, demands she drop the pot, draws pistol. Massey apologizes and cowers. Officers advance towards her continually demanding she drop the pot.

9:02 -- Shots fired

9:03 -- Boiling water can be seen flying over the counter towards the living area and the officers

We never see/hear confirmation of the officer telling her to deal with the boiling water, although we do hear him confirm and approve of her doing so. That being said, even if he told her to do it, it does not make him responsible for her threatening them with it. If the shooting cop had his body camera on we'd know so much more about what transpired in the seconds before the shooting. We don't really know whether she threw the water at them (purposefully) or whether she was a threat at the time the shooting happened (she had clearly given herself up moments prior). This was someone who had mental problems encountering a really shitty cop. It never should have gone down like this.

 

Your description of the sequence of events does not seem to match your recap at the end. Where in that sequence is she threatening them? Has anyone suggested that she actually threw water at them, and if not why point that out as an open question?

The cops may have perceived that she is threatening them, but the events you describe could just as easily point to it being a misunderstanding. In the sequence of events as you describe it, she doesn’t appear to be much of a threat at all. I thought she was perhaps moving towards them in a threatening manner with the pot of water. Did that happen?

 

Saying "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus", twice, while holding a pot of scalding hot water can be reasonably perceived as a threat.

All I know is that the video shows scalding hot water flying into the living area and the direction of the officers as the shots are being fired. What we don't know is how/why it got there. I assume the shooting officer will say she threw it. You can hear him exclaim at 9:40 "I"m not taking ****ing boiling hot water all over the head" and "look it came right to our feet too".

I can't say whether she was a threat or not a the time the trigger was pulled. If the shooting officer had his camera on we'd know more, which is really goddamned aggravating. The recording officer's testimony will be critical as he likely saw what happened that the camera did not.

From a procedural standpoint, even if she was a threat, the dumbass should not have escalated it. He very easily could have backed off and realized he was dealing with someone who wasn't all there. Best case, she was only a threat if he chose to advance on her. He could have stood down, but after she mouthed off to him he got way too aggressive.

This reminds me a bit of the Daniel Shaver case. Where an overly aggressive cop creates a deadly situation where one didn't necessarily have to be.

 

Since I haven't watched the video (I don't wish to do so), my opinion may be moot but:

8:35 -- Shooting cop says "we don't need a fire while we're here"

This sounds like the cop did not have a problem with the pot being moved. (regardless of whether he asked for it to happen.) Or maybe he just asked the stove to be turned off.

8:40 -- Massey turns off the stove, picks up pot of boiling water, says "I'll put it in the sink" (?)

8:45 -- Recording cop nervously laughs and backs away from kitchen, Massey says "Why you moving? Where you going?", cop says "Away from your hot steaming water".

8:50 -- Massey says "Away from my hot steaming water? I rebuke you in the name of Jesus." (twice) Shooting cop threatens her back, demands she drop the pot, draws pistol. Massey apologizes and cowers. Officers advance towards her continually demanding she drop the pot.

I'm still not sure how "Away from my hot steaming water? I rebuke you in the name of Jesus." is a threat. But it does sound like the police officer took it as such and suddenly demanded that she drop the pot instead of just putting it in the sink. But drawing his pistol and advancing toward her? Makes no sense.

9:02 -- Shots fired

9:03 -- Boiling water can be seen flying over the counter towards the living area and the officers

So, did she throw the boiling water which led to the shots being fired? Or were the shots fired first before the water began flying? Or is it hard to tell?

Lastly, it doesn't sound like the woman showed antagonism toward the officers. Why would she after all, since she called the police to ask for help against a potential intruder? And why would the police officer approach this woman standing in her own kitchen, who called for their help, as a potential threat?

Just messed up.

 

You're asking a lot of the same questions I am.

The encounter was odd from the start. Massey began the encounter acting confused and slow (took her 3+ minutes to answer the door, and that house is not exactly large), the officer began the encounter acting annoyed and got more annoyed the slower and more confused Massey behaved. Eventually Massey also started acting annoyed and the whole thing got sour.

I can't MMQB this to say I wouldn't feel at least somewhat threatened by someone who is behaving erratically holding a pot of boiling water 6-8 feet away from me repeatedly saying "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus". That doesn't mean your first instinct should be to advance and subdue them, though. That was a clear signal this person was not all there and the officer, instead of taking it as a challenge, should have realized this and de-escalated by giving her space and not spitting threats back at her.

 

Many people including me are puzzling at that phrase to set him off too. He was still ok before he heard that phrase, but after he asked her to repeat it and he clearly understood it, that triggered him to go off on her. He let go a bunch of F bombs and said he was going to shoot her in her F..king face and he did. The whole thing happened so fast probably under 10 seconds. Since you will not watch the video, many in here who have watched it will corroborate with me that is how it happened. We need to find out in the trial to know why that phrase triggered him or he was just looking for an excuse to murder her. The whole thing is absolutely bizarre and I wish to God those kinds of cops will be ousted and never to serve the public again. We do not need an unhinged cop walking around with that much firepower. Someone is going to die and someone did.

 

it doesn't matter how lucid or delusional she was. She was a tiny woman in a housecoat in her kitchen and he told her he was going to shoot her in the face and then did it.

She didn't seem normal to me but compared to the psychopath in the living room it becomes irrelevant.