New audit slams MPD for reinstating officers convicted in death of Karon Hylton-Brown

Audit slams MPD for reinstating officers convicted in death of Karon Hylton-Brown

A new report tonight slams D.C.'s police chief and department for reinstating two officers once convicted in the high profile killing of Karon Hylton-Brown. The audit also calls for a handful of use of force reforms at MPD. FOX 5's Sydney Persing reports.

WASHINGTON - A new report is slamming D.C.’s police chief and the department for reinstating two officers once convicted in the high-profile killing of Karon Hylton-Brown. 

The report released by D.C. auditor Kathleen Patterson slams the police department and calls its response "grossly inadequate."

It also calls for a handful of use of force reforms at MPD. 

The backstory:

In 2022, two D.C police officers were convicted in Hylton-Brown’s death, and for trying to cover it up. 

Investigators found that officer Terrance Sutton, 38, and lieutenant Andrew Zabavsky, 54, chased Hylton-Brown in October 2020 while driving a moped on a sidewalk in the Brightwood Park area of Northwest D.C.

Police began to pursue Hylton-Brown, a 20-year-old father. He rode into oncoming traffic and died.

It was all caught on a camera, and it sparked passionate protest in the District.

A federal jury eventually found two officers involved guilty—one of second degree murder, and both for conspiracy and obstruction of justice –accused and convicted of trying to cover up what happened. 

Then, President Donald Trump pardoned them. Shortly thereafter, MPD reinstated them.

Dig deeper:

The new report calls that response from MPD inadequate and puts pressure on the department to implement a handful of reforms. 

"It’s dismaying, it’s disappointing," D.C. auditor Kathleen Patterson said.

In particular, it criticizes Chief Pamela Smith’s decision not to fire the officers as recommended by the department’s own disciplinary review division, known as the DRD. 

Instead, the report notes, one got a 25-day suspension and the other was allowed to retire after paying a fine. Both to receive back pay and lost job benefits. 

"The police chief rejected extensive and professional work done by members of her own department," Patterson said. 

What they're saying:

"I think the overarching theme to resistance to change and resistance to constructive criticism is something the whole community ought to be concerned about 

Michael Bromwich, the principal author of the report, claimed the department rejected all 11 of the recommendations it was given to strengthen its practice in overseing the use of force.

"All just based on common-sense ways to improve the way it does business and they rejected all of them, and for reasons that really don’t make a lot of sense," Bromwich said. 

In a lengthy release in response to the audit, MPD pushed back hard, claiming—among many other things—that the report contained substantive errors and omissions.

MPD wrote in part that the audit "did not account for a critical development: both the internal affairs report and the DRD recommendation were issued prior to the members being pardoned and the criminal cases against them being dismissed without prejudice." 

The department's statement went on to say that when the cases were dismissed, MPD conducted a comprehensive review, which included evidence excluded from the criminal trial and argued that because the members were pardoned while their cases were still under appeal, MPD couldn’t any longer rely on criminal convictions in determining their disciplinary outcomes. 

MPD also claims that many of the audit’s recommendations are already covered by their policies.

D.C.’s auditor, meanwhile, says she hopes Chief Smith will reconsider the findings.