FEB. 2025. Blues Vol 41 No.2

TRUMP PARDONS TWO

TRUMP PARDONS TWO DCMETRO POLICE OFFICERS CON-VICTED IN DEATH OF MOPEDRIDER DURING PURSUITWASHINGTON, DC - In October2020, a DC Metro Police officerpursued a moped operated byKaron Hylton-Brown, 20, accordingto a release by the Departmentof Justice from September12, 2024. According to the release,the pursuit was “unauthorized.”During the pursuit,Hylton-Brown was struck by anuninvolved vehicle as he droveout of an alley and died from hisinjuries.As a result, Officer Terrence D.Sutton, 40, and Lieutenant AndrewZabavsky, 56, were chargedwith his death and sentenced tojail. Now, after former PresidentJoe Biden established a precedentfor unmitigated pardons,President Trump has agreed topardon the two officers, NBCWashington reports.During a signing ceremony inthe Oval Office, President Trumpsaid he was working on pardonsfor Sutton and Zabavsky, whowere sentenced to 66 and 48months respectively.“We are looking at two policeofficers, actually, Washingtonpolice officers, that went afteran illegal, and things happened,and they ended up putting themin jail,” Trump said. “They gotfive-year jail sentences. Youknow the case. And we’re lookingat that in order to give them, uh,we gotta give them a break.”The incident began whenHylton-Brown was operatinga moped on a sidewalk in theBrightwood Park area of NorthwestDC. Sutton attempted tostop him, and according to theDOJ release, the suspect refused.Sutton then began chasingthe suspect “on neighborhoodstreets for minutes, over morethan 10 blocks,” at what wasreferred to as “unreasonablespeed,” including the wrongway on a one-way street. Thesuspect drove out of the alley,where he was hit by the vehicle.Prosecutors allege that Suttonand Zavavsky, who supervisedthe Fourth Police District’s CrimeSuppression team, conspired tocover up the details of the pursuitand subsequent crash.The officers were accused ofnot preserving the crash site andallowing the driver of the vehiclethat struck Hylton-Brown toleave the scene 20 minutes afterthe crash. Both officers allegedlyturned off their body-worn cameras,conferred privately, andleft, the release said.Once at the station, the DOJalleges the two officers “continuedthe cover-up,” claimingthey misled their commandingofficer about what happenedby “substantially downplayingits seriousness, denying that apolice chase had even occurred,and omitting any mention of Mr.Hylton-Brown’s critical injuries.”They wrote that Zabavsky alsoclaimed that the suspect was adrunk driver.The DOJ further claimed thatboth officers “hid their direct involvementin the incident” whilesaying, "Sutton drafted a policereport that memorialized a falsenarrative of the incident.”Hylton-Brown died from hisinjuries two days later.The officers were arrested,and following a nine-weektrial, Sutton was found guilty ofsecond-degree murder, conspiracyto obstruct, and obstructionof justice. The same jury foundZabavsky guilty of conspiracyto obstruct and obstruction ofjustice. In addition to the prisonterms, both officers wereordered to serve three years ofsupervised release.President Trump granted fullpardons to Sutton and Zabavsky.Although sentenced to prisonlast year, the two officers hadremained free on bond. Now,their sentences have been expunged.66 The BLUES - FEBRUARY ‘25

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