Last month, a woman named Sonya Massey was fatally shot in her kitchen by a Sangamon County (IL) deputy sheriff.
The sheriff's defense, classically, was that he felt his life was threatened. This is the only possible defense a law-enforcement officer can offer for shooting a suspect (not that Ms. Massey was a suspect in any crime).
What had Ms. Massey done? She said, "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus Christ." Now, quite possibly that is not a truly reasonable thing to say under the circumstances. Quite possibly the officer did not understand that (I am not a Christian of the same stripe as Ms. Massey so I am not certain I fully grasp what that was supposed to mean, at that time and place).
But--what exactly was the officer--I believe his name is Grayson--being threatened with? A pot of hot water.
Now, I am not certain what the statistics, if there are in fact any, show as to what percentage of the time an attack by hot water is fatal. I suspect it seldom is.
Add into the recipe that Ms. Massey was black. Sadly--infuriatingly--the majority of cases of this sort seem to involve a victim who was black. The inescapable inference in these horrible cases is that the officer who killed the person bore some degree of racism in his heart. (Latest news on this story is that he may also bear hostility to women..)
I have given only a very sketchy outline of this story; and far more has come to light via different media Any reader should feel free to add, via a comment, anything they consider worth including.
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