Trump says police immunity not for ‘evil’ but for innocent mistakes

[August 01, 2024]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Former President Donald Trump, who supports police immunity, says what he knows of the shooting death of Springfield resident Sonya Massey at the hands of a sheriff’s deputy doesn’t look good.

Massey was shot and killed July 6 by a Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy responding to a call Massey made about a suspected prowler. Released body camera footage shows deputy Sean Grayson, who is white, shoot Massey, who is Black, in the face while she was holding a pot of water in her kitchen. He was fired and charged with murder.

Asked about it during a National Association of Black Journalists conference Wednesday in Chicago, Trump said what he’s seen of the story doesn’t look good. Trump backs police immunity to address crime and noted the more than 100 shootings and 17 deaths in one weekend in Chicago recently.

“We need to have our police officers have their respect and dignity back,” Trump said. “In this particular case [the Massey shooting], I saw something that didn’t look good to me. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all.”

Trump said his police immunity stance isn’t for bad actors.

“There’s a big difference between being a bad person and making an innocent mistake,” Trump said. “But if somebody made an innocent mistake, I would wanna help that person.”

A Chicago Police Department vehicle
Chicago Police Department via X

He further said policing is very difficult.

“Sometimes you have less than a second to make a, you know, life and death decision and sometimes very bad decisions are made. They’re not made [from] an evil standpoint, but they’re made from a standpoint of they made a mistake,” he said.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to face Trump in the Nov. 5 election, reportedly called Massey’s family for condolences last week. The Biden administration said Congress must address policing reforms.

Separately, Illinois U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, explained Wednesday what kinds of reforms there could be.

“You can see the need for more, and additional de-escalation training, but I think we need to be partnering with law enforcement to make sure that they are getting the skills training that they need,” Budzinski said at an unrelated event in Springfield Wednesday.

Alongside the charges against the former deputy, the U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation.