Sonya Massey family joins other victims of police violence to plead for change

The family members of Sonya Massey and other Black Americans killed by police in recent years are calling for urgent access in Congress to pass police reform measures, including legislation named after George Floyd that has suffered from a series of setbacks and remained largely sidelined for years.

Massey was shot in the face while standing in her kitchen in July, and the former sheriff's deputy who shot her was charged with murder in a case that has drawn national rebuke to police response to mental health crises and hiring practices for law enforcement.

Massey's death has reinvigorated yearslong cries for police reform. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and family members of Tyre Nichols and Breonna Taylor also spoke at a news conference on Friday.

"All I want – all we all want – is justice," said Tamika Palmer, the mother of Taylor, who was killed in 2020 by police officers who entered her apartment in a botched raid to serve a warrant.

"I don’t know why we have to beg for justice," Palmer said. "We are asking you to do the right thing and it’s just that simple."

Donna Massey, Sonya Massey's mother, said that police should not be placed on paid administrative leave when there is clear video evidence of their misconduct.

"We need to stop paying them to go home on a vacation when they kill one of us," she said.

RENEWED CALLS FOR ACTION:Killing of Sonya Massey brings fresh heartache to Breonna Taylor, George Floyd activists

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was first introduced after Floyd was murdered by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, sparking nationwide racial justice protests in summer 2020. Lawmakers have been trying to pass the act, which included sweeping police reform measures including banning chokeholds and federal no-knock warrants, for years, but it has faced persistent roadblocks.

Most recently, a group of senators reintroduced the legislation in August.

"We need to pass this bill," said RowVaughn Wells, Nichols' mother.

Federal trial begins in Tyre Nichols death

A federal trial began this week for three of the former Memphis police officers charged in Nichols' beating death during a January 2023 traffic stop. Prosecutors told a jury this week that the officers who beat Nichols were inflicting "punishment."

The three officers, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, are charged with using excessive force, deliberate indifference, conspiracy to witness tamper and witness tampering. Two other officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., took plea deals.

"Today, I stand before you while a federal trial is being held as we speak for three of the officers that murdered my son," Wells, Nichols' mother said Friday. "We have so many kids that are dying by the hands of the police... So I want to say to Congress, all these kids and all our kids that are being murdered, their blood is on your hands."

Contributing: The Memphis Commercial Appeal