Otis Grigsby Claims Illinois Police Murdered His Uncle
Otis Grigsby is a defensive end for the Vikings who dressed for four games last season; the only tackle he recorded was a sack that came against the 49ers. He is 27 years old, and has two years of experience at the NFL level. He spent the 2006 season in Carolina, and played college football for Kentucky.
Oh yeah, he also says Illinois police are responsible for the death of his uncle.
Lernard Grigsby of Crest Hill, Illinois was pronounced dead Monday morning after a police officer fired two shots at his abdomen. Police were responding to a domestic disturbance call at Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet, where Grigsby was employed as a correctional officer. He allegedly attacked the officers, and attempted to grab one of the officers’ weapon. When this happened, one of the responding officers fired his shots.
Otis released a YouTube video that told a much different story of his uncle’s death. “My uncle…was recently murdered by an Illinois State police officer,” he states at the beginning of his video. Grigsby claims his uncle was “dragged outside” and beaten by the officers. His uncle fought back and was shot, he says.
Otis is right: There are further details of this story that need to be revealed. While as a sports blogger, it’s probably not my place to comment on issues of police brutality, excessive force, and attempts to prevent aspects of an incident from becoming public knowledge, I can definitely sense Otis’ pain. You could hear the anger and frustration in his voice, and you could feel a certain desperation in his frequent tangents during the video.
It was a powerful video; one that has already caused much debate around the blogosphere. It’s easy to roll your eyes at issues like this when you read about them in a newspaper, but when you’re confronted with them in a video like this, they become more difficult to dismiss.
I’ll do my best to keep tabs on this story; even though it’s not necessarily football related, it deserves our attention.
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4 Responses to “Otis Grigsby Claims Illinois Police Murdered His Uncle”
May 4th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
What a crock! This prison guard tried to disarm a law enforcement officer. Why was he trying to get the officers weapon away from him? I can only imagine that he wanted to kill the troopers. He got what was coming to him. And to read that this goof is claiming that his uncle was dragged out and beaten is nonsense. One of the officers was a female, and his uncle broke her nose too. Sounds like a real upstanding citizen to me. There are some things in life that will get you killed. Trying to disarm a cop is one of them. Too bad this guy couldn’t just do what he was told. Since it was a domestic disturbance call, he probably beat his wife too. Real tough guy.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:47 am
After my Mom (an innocent bystander) was killed as a result of a high speed chase gone awry in Colorado Springs, I can understand Mr. Grigsby’s comments. Law enforcement officers seldom, if ever, take full responsibility for their actions. And, on many occasions create an additional threat to public safety because of their cavalier attitude towards their own responsibilities to the law. They put on the badge and carrry their weapon, but somehow they don’t feel obliged to adhere to the same laws they enforce. As with the death of my Mom, there was another way to handle this particular incident. And, it certianly didn’t have to result in killing anyone. I hope these officers, lose their jobs for their lack of judgement in how they approached this situation. Mr. Grigsby, my condolences to your family. And, I will say a prayer for your Uncle. Dave, you obviously have a lot to learn about the world around you. You can only bury your head in the sand for so long…typically that turning point is when it happens to someone in your family.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:06 am
there should have been no shots fired what so ever. you do not get to shoot an unarmed and out numbered person just cuz you got a badge. there was another way that he could have been detained other than killing him. i guess some people really hold to their “shoot first then ask” mentality, and those people should not be given a badge. and another thing, just cuz a woman police officer got her nose broke that makes it twenty times worse? no! she joined the force knowing she could be killed or injured in the line of duty just like everyone else, shes no different than anyone else who could have got injured so stop puting emphasis on her.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
I THINK IT IS ASHAME TO KILL AN UNARMED MAN IF THAT IS THE WAY IT IS THEY SHOULD HAVE SHOT RODNEY KING. I GUESS THIS MAN HAD 2 MUCH ON THEM, WHERE THEY COULD NOT LET HIM LIVE. VENEGENCE IS MINE SAID THE LORD THEY WILL GET THEIRS
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