The United States President Donald Trump has pardoned two Washington police officers convicted of crimes related to the 2020 death of Karon Hylton-Brown, a 20-year-old Black man.
Terence Sutton Jr, sentenced in September 2024 to 66 months in prison, and Andrew Zabavsky, sentenced to 48 months, were found guilty in connection to an unauthorised police pursuit on 23 October 2020.
The White House announced the decision on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
The Justice Department stated that the chase ended in a fatal collision in Northwest Washington, D.C.
The officers had remained free pending their appeals. Sutton’s attorney, Kellen Dwyer, expressed relief: “We are thrilled that President Trump ended this prosecution once and for all.”
Zabavsky’s attorney, Christopher Zampogna, also thanked Trump.
Hylton-Brown’s mother, Karen Hylton, said she was “shocked and cried” upon learning of the potential pardons.
The Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Chiefs of Police criticised the decision, saying they were “deeply discouraged.”
Meanwhile, on September 13, 2024, Terence Sutton Jr. and Andrew Zabavsky were sentenced to several years in prison for their roles in a deadly chase of a man on a moped and subsequent cover-up, a case that sparked protests in the nation’s capital.
Metropolitan Police Department officer Terence Sutton, 40, was sentenced to five years and six months behind bars for a murder conviction in the October 2020 death of 20-year-old Karon Hylton-Brown.
While Andrew Zabavsky, a former MPD lieutenant who supervised Sutton, was sentenced to four years of incarceration for conspiring with Sutton to hide the reckless pursuit.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman handed down both prison sentences following a three-day hearing. The judge allowed both officers to remain free pending their appeals, according to a Justice Department spokesperson.
Prosecutors had recommended prison sentences of 18 years and just over 10 years respectively, for Sutton and Zabavsky.
Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement after the verdict that “public safety requires public trust.”
“Crimes like this erode that 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,” Graves said.