‘Do Not Pardon These Murderers!’: President Trump Under Fire After Issuing Pardon to Two White D.C. Officers Convicted In Death of Black Man Stopped While Riding Moped on Sidewalk
Family members of a Black man whose death was covered up by two cops following a police chase in Washington D.C. expressed disappointment and shock at news of the officers’ pardons from President Donald Trump.
Trump issued “full and unconditional” pardons to Lt. Andrew Zabavsky and Metropolitan police officer Terence Sutton who were convicted for their roles in the 2020 death of Karon Hylton-Brown.
On Oct. 23, 2020, both cops spotted 20-year-old Hylton-Brown driving a moped on a sidewalk without a helmet. They tried to conduct a traffic stop, but when Hylton-Brown didn’t stop, they chased him. The high-speed pursuit spanned more than 10 blocks and ended when an uninvolved motorist crashed into the moped, leaving Hylton-Brown seriously injured.
Prosecutors accused Sutton and Zabavsky of covering up the incident after learning they turned off their body cameras to speak privately with one another, tampered with the scene, and misled their commanding officers about the nature of the incident.
Investigators learned that both cops allowed the motorist who struck Hylton-Brown to leave the scene 20 minutes after the crash. Sutton also drove his police vehicle over the crash site to crush pieces of debris from the collision as he left the scene.
Both officers were also accused of downplaying the severity of the crash by denying that a police chase ever happened and concealing the critical nature of the injuries Hylton-Brown sustained. Zabavsky also falsely implied that Hylton-Brown had been drunk at the time of the accident.
Hylton-Brown died on Oct. 25, 2020, just two days after the crash. His death triggered intense public outcry and sparked massive protests in the D.C. area during a time when the nation was still reckoning with the murder of George Floyd.
In September 2024, Sutton was sentenced to more than five years in prison for second-degree murder, conspiracy to obstruct, and obstruction of justice in the unauthorized pursuit. The same jury who convicted Sutton also found Zabavsky guilty of conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
Since their sentencing, the officers had both been out on bail as they worked to appeal their case, but the Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it granted clemency to both of them.
Sutton told CNN he was “just overwhelmed” by the pardon and expressed his desire to return to public safety. Zabavsky’s attorney Christopher Zampogna said he and his client were “grateful” to Trump.
The D.C. Police Union, a group that actively sought clemency for both officers, praised the news of their pardons on X.
“Officer Sutton was wrongly charged by corrupt prosecutors for doing his job. This action rights an incredible wrong that not only harmed Officer Sutton, but also crippled the ability for the department to function,” the union wrote.
Hylton-Brown’s mother said she was shocked and cried when she heard the pardons were being issued.
“Do not pardon these murderers,” Hylton said regarding a letter she sent Trump on Tuesday imploring him not to grant clemency to either officer.
David L. Shurtz, the attorney for Hylton-Brown’s family, said Trump is “backing up the most corrupt police department.”
Shurtz shared that Amaala Jones-Bey, the mother of Hylton-Brown’s daughter, was dissatisfied with the pardons, calling them “blatant racism.”
“It’s just this incredible corruption that everybody has ignored, and Donald Trump is making it even worse,” Shurtz told WTOP. “If you can go into a corrupt world and then put your thumb on the scale and change justice, that’s really a sad commentary on the justice in the District of Columbia, because the police department is so corrupt.”
Jones-Bey filed a $100 million lawsuit against D.C. in 2021 alleging that the city’s officers acted with “reckless, deliberate and callous indifference” while violating Hylton-Brown’s rights during the deadly crash.
Since taking office, Trump has made quick work of issuing pardons, making good on a pledge to pardon the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He has already pardoned nearly 1,500 of his supporters who were involved in the deadly riot, including some who assaulted police officers.