The Washington Post via Getty Images,
On Wednesday, January 22, 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned former Metropolitan Police Department Officers Andrew Zabavsky and Terence Sutton. Both officers were tried and convicted of separate charges in connection to the death of 20-year-old father Karon Hylton-Brown.
“The prosecutions of Officer Terence Sutton and Lieutenant Andrew Zabavsky were literally unprecedented,”
On October 23, 2020 at approximately 10:09 p.m. EST, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) says officers observed Karon Hylton-Brown operating an electric moped without a helmet on the 500 block of Kennedy Street in Washington, D.C., which can be classified as a traffic violation The department says officers “activated their emergency lights and attempted to make a traffic stop.” However, the MPD says Hylton-Brown exited an alley on the 700 block of Kennedy Street, collided with an oncoming vehicle and was later pronounced dead after being transported to a nearby hospital for emergency care.
Days after the MPD released its initial press release, body cam footage of the incident was released and four officers connected to the pursuit were placed on administrative leave.
“We have very clear policies about no chasing. It should be obvious by now. Why? Because chasing can be dangerous,” Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
In the aftermath of Hylton-Brown’s death, protests erupted in northwest Washington, D.C. near the site of the fatal crash. Also, critics of the MPD and the officers involved pointed toward the District of Columbia’s policy on vehicular pursuits. § 5–365.02 of the Code of the District of Columbia states an officer of the law must not engage in a vehicular pursuit of an individual unless the individual has “committed or attempted to commit a crime of violence; or poses an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to another person.” Further reporting also found one of the officers involved, Terence Sutton, turned “off his vehicle’s emergency lights and siren [while] accelerating behind” Hylton-Brown during the chase.
Nearly four years after the fatal pursuit, Andrew Zabavsky was found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of justice and sentenced to four years in prison. Sutton was found guilty of second-degree murder, conspiracy to obstruct, and obstruction of justice and sentenced to five and a half years in prison. Then U.S. Attorney General Matthew M. Graves said the actions of Zabavsky and Sutton “erode” public trust and are “a disservice to the community and the thousands of officers who work incredibly hard, within the bounds of the Constitution, to keep us safe.”
“In the pursuit’s final moments, Sutton followed Mr. Hylton-Brown into a narrow alley, turned off his car’s emergency lights and siren, and accelerated behind the moped. When Mr. Hylton-Brown reached the street at the mouth of the alley, he was struck by an uninvolved oncoming motorist. As Mr. Hylton-Brown lay unconscious in the street in a pool of his own blood, Sutton and Zabavsky, agreed to cover up what Sutton had done to prevent any further investigation of the incident,” a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia reads.
“Neither Sutton, as the lead officer at the scene, nor Zabavsky, the ranking MPD official, preserved the crash scene for investigators; they allowed the driver of the car that struck Hylton-Brown to leave the scene within 20 minutes of the crash. They then turned off their own body worn cameras, conferred privately, and left. Zabavsky designated no other MPD official to supervise the scene upon his own departure. Sutton further compromised the integrity of the crash scene by driving his MPD car directly over the crash site, audibly crushing pieces of debris from the collision as he left. At no point did either defendant contact MPD’s Major Crash Unit (MCU) or its Internal Affairs Division (IAD) to initiate an investigation by those units.”
Hylton-Brown’s mother, Karen, was distraught after learning of Trump’s intent to pardon Sutton and Zabavsky.
“Per President Trump inauguration speech, he spoke of fairness. The pardoning of Sutton and Zabavsky isn’t fairness. I have and am requesting that President Trump review this case before judgement,” she wrote.
“President Trump, as the mother of a baby whom I love, I am requesting to speak with you privately…Please don’t pardon Sutton and Zabavsky.
