2 DC officers may receive pardons after convictions in fatal 2020 chase
Two D.C. police officers are expected to receive a presidential pardon after they were sentenced on charges related to a 2020 chase that ended in the death of a man riding a moped.
The District’s police union said they are working with President Donald Trump to secure the two pardons for the officers convicted in Karon Hylton-Brown’s death.
Trump highlighted the case while signing a flurry of executive orders and pardons on Monday.
“We are looking at two police officers, actually, Washington police officers, that went after an illegal and things happened and they ended up putting them in jail. They got five-year jail sentences. You know the case,” the president said as he was signing orders. “And we’re looking at that in order to give them, uh, we gotta give them a break.”
D.C.’s police union identified the two officers as Officer Terrance Sutton and Lieutenant Andrew Zabavsky.
Sutton was convicted of second-degree murder in the 20-year-old’s death. Both officers were also convicted of conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice in trying to cover up Hylton-Brown’s death.
The officers appealed their convictions, and a judge decided in September 2024 they could remain released from custody pending the outcome of their appeal.
In October 2020, Hylton-Brown was riding a rental scooter on the sidewalk without a helmet. Sutton and Zabavsky pursued him in separate cars on Brightwood neighborhood streets until Hylton-Brown was killed by another car as he drove out of an alley.
It is against D.C. police policy to pursue a vehicle if the only reason is to make a traffic stop.
Hylton-Brown’s death sparked protests and unrest in the District in the fall of 2020, months after nationwide protests over police violence following the killing of Minnesota resident George Floyd.
Sutton was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for the murder conviction and four years for the conspiracy and obstruction convictions, which will be served at the same time as he serves the sentence for murder.
Zabavsky was sentenced to a total of four years in prison.
The police union in a statement said it was “actively working with the White House and President Trump to address two glaring miscarriages of justice” that involved the D.C. officers.
“These officers — men of integrity and dedication — were targeted by corrupt prosecutors who weaponized the legal system against them,” the union said. “The DC Police Union believes that the pardon process can and should be used to correct such egregious errors.”
Hylton-Brown’s mother, Karen Hylton, told NBC Washington she was stunned by the news of pardons.