President Trump pardons 2 DC police officers convicted in death of 20-year-old Black man
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Man on moped killed during police chase
Family and friends are gathering outside of the DC Police 4th District station tonight to protest the death of a 20-year-old man who was killed during a police chase while on a moped last weekend.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has granted clemency to two former D.C. police officers who were convicted in the death of a 20-year-old D.C. man who was killed in a police chase in October 2020.
Trump announced Wednesday that former MPD officers Andrew Zabavsky and Terence Sutton both received full and unconditional pardons. Sutton was found guilty of second-degree murder, and both he and Zabavsky were found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction.
The two were convicted in December 2022, accused of causing the crash that killed 20-year-old Karon Hylton-Brown while chasing him.
The deadly incident happened around 10 p.m. on Oct. 23, 2020, when then-Lietuenant Zabavsky and Officer Sutton said they saw Hylton-Brown operating an electric moped without a helmet on the sidewalk in the Brightwood Park area of Northwest D.C.
The officers attempted to make a traffic stop. Prosecutors say a pursuit began and continued on neighborhood streets for more than 10 blocks at at "unreasonable speeds" and at one point went the wrong way up a one-way street.
RELATED: DC Police release body camera video in fatal moped incident | Community demands answers in DC after Friday MPD moped pursuit turns fatal
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Tensions reported between police and man who died after moped chase
We are learning more from a community leader about the relationship between Karon Hylton and the officer who was driving the car that followed him during the last moments of his life.
According to the prosecutors, in the final moments of the pursuit, Sutton, who was driving, followed Hylton-Brown into a narrow alley off the 700 block of Kennedy Street, NW, turned off his car’s emergency lights and siren, and accelerated behind the moped.
When he left the alley and turned onto Kennedy Street, Hylton-Brown was hit by an oncoming car. He suffered serious head trauma and died on Oct. 25, 2020.
Following the incident, prosecutors say as Hylton-Brown lay unconscious in the street in a pool of his own blood, Sutton and Zabavsky agreed to cover up the incident.
They let the car that hit Hylton-Brown leave the scene within 20 minutes of the crash, turned off their body-worn cameras, talked privately and then left. The officers never contacted MPD's Major Crash Unit and never alerted the Internal Affairs Unit — per department protocol.
The prosecutors said Sutton and Zabavsky then went back to the police station and continued the cover-up by misleading their commanding officer about the nature of the incident, denying that a police chase had even occurred and leaving out any mention of Hylton-Brown’s injuries.
Zabavsky also falsely implied that Hylton-Brown had been a drunk driver. Both men hid their direct involvement in the incident to avoid an investigation.
RELATED: Karon Hylton-Brown death: 2 Former DC police officers found guilty
Sutton then wrote up a false police report saying there was no pursuit and that he and Zabavsky had lost sight of Hylton-Brown. He said they were wholly uninvolved with the fatal crash and described Hylton Brown’s injuries as "superficial abrasions on [his] left eyebrow line."
Following a trial, the jury found that Sutton caused Hylton-Brown’s death by driving a police vehicle in a "conscious disregard for an extreme risk of death or serious bodily injury" and the jury found that both Sutton and Zabavsky conspired to cover up their role in the deadly crash.
Karon Hylton-Brown died in the hospital on Oct. 25. Close friends who spoke to FOX 5 back in 2020 described him as playful and someone who recently became a father.
"Koran, he was just having fun on the scooter. They decided to chase him. Hit the back of the scooter, made him collided into oncoming traffic in the highway. There’s no chase law in D.C. isn’t it?"
For days after his death, hundreds of community members protested at the police station and called for answers from both MPD and Mayor Muriel Bowser's office.
Now, just over two years after the officers were convicted, they will walk free following Trump's pardon.
D.C. Police released a statement following the pardons Wednesday, saying, "The Metropolitan Police Department acknowledges President Donald Trump’s executive action in this matter. The men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department work tirelessly to prevent crime and ensure the safety of those that live in, work in, and visit the District of Columbia. Every day, our members perform inherently dangerous work that requires professional judgment and split-second decision-making.
The prosecutions of Officer Terence Sutton and Lieutenant Andrew Zabavsky were literally unprecedented. Never before, in any other jurisdiction in the country, has a police officer been charged with second-degree murder for pursuing a suspect. These members could never have imagined that engaging in a core function of their job would be prosecuted as a crime. The Department recognizes the risks involved in vehicle pursuits, which are reflected in our pursuit policy. But violations of that policy should be addressed through training and discipline - not through criminal prosecution.
The Department thanks President Trump and Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin for supporting our officers."
Former officers Sutton and Zabavsky now join the list of convicted criminals being released from behind bars.
The president has issued more than 1,500 pardons since taking office on Monday, Jan. 20. Most notably, he vowed to pardon, commute the prison sentences, or dismiss the cases of all 1,500-plus individuals charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
The order was issued just hours after his return to the White House on Monday and paves the way for the release of individuals found guilty of violent attacks on police, as well as leaders of far-right extremist groups convicted of plotting to keep him in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election to President Joe Biden.