‘Incredibly Frustrating’: North Carolina District Attorney Dismisses 180 Cases Involving Two White Officers Accused of Covering Up How a Black Man Was Killed As His Outraged Mother Demands Justice
Call it a mother’s instinct, but Henrietta Mason knew something was not adding up when Raleigh police informed her that her son had been killed in a single-car collision in North Carolina last year.
And her persistence to find the truth has led to prosecutors dismissing 180 DWI cases due to credibility issues involving the two white state troopers who investigated the death of her son, Tyrone Mason, a 31-year-old Black man.
But five months later, North Carolina officials have refused to release bodycam and dashcam video that would reveal the truth about what took place in the early hours of October 7.
Now Henrietta Mason has retained the legal services of prominent civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Bakari Sellers along with local attorney Sean Cecil, who say they will be filing a lawsuit within the next few days.
“She, more than anybody else, got the train started to justice,” Crump said in a news conference Friday to encourage the media to make public records requests for the video which they say would reveal Mason died while being pursued by troopers — a complete contradiction to the original claim that he had died in a single-car accident.
“We know there was a lie from day one when they told her, her son died as a result of a single-car accident. And when she initially asked the police, was there a chase?”
“And they said, no, no chase,” Crump said at the press conference.
Alleged Coverup
But now it appears as if there was a pursuit that resulted in Mason’s death which was covered up by North Carolina State Highway Patrol Trooper Garrett Macario and his supervisor, Matthew Morrison, both of whom have been placed on paid administrative leave.
The investigation began in December when Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman reviewed the footage and determined the two troopers had lied to Raleigh police about what had taken place that night.
According to court records reviewed by WRAL News, Macario “provided false and/or misleading information to responding officers with the Raleigh Police Department.”
Raleigh police, in turn, drove to Henrietta’s house to inform her that her son died in a single-car accident and that there were no witnesses.
Freeman has since dismissed 180 DWI cases involving those troopers after seeing visual proof of their lies. She has not ruled out criminal charges against them.
“Credibility among law enforcement is essential to the work that we do on a daily basis,” Freeman told WRAL. “We’ve got to be able to trust our officers.”
“It’s incredibly frustrating,” Freeman told ABC 11. “We trust our law enforcement to tell the truth. And when we have reason to believe they aren’t, it’s disgusting, frankly. It’s frustrating.”
Refusal to Release Evidence
North Carolina passed a law in 2016 that made police videos exempt from public record laws unless a judge orders its release.
In Friday’s news conference, attorney Sellers appealed to North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein as well as state Attorney General Jeff Jackson to release the video, claiming the video would reveal a culture of corruption within the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
“I want my good friend, Jeff Jackson, I want my good friend, Gov. Stein, to actually open their eyes and pay attention to what’s going on with their state highway patrol,” Sellers said “Because as we’re digging, we’re understanding that it’s just not about Tyrone Mason, that this actually is a culture.”
Judging by previous Atlanta Black Star articles, that culture disproportionately affects Black citizens, including the time a white state trooper grabbed a Black woman by her neck and yanked her out of the car after pulling her over for allegedly running a red light, as well as the time several agencies, including the highway patrol, grabbed another Black woman by her locs and bragged about it afterwards.
“And you know what’s most amazing about it is that Josh Stein and Jeff Jackson could simply say today that we are going to release those videos,” Sellers said.
“They can make sure that these officers are held to account. They can make sure that these officers are arrested. They can make sure that these officers are fired. They can actually do examinations throughout the department of their policies and procedures. They can do those things today because you know what, they have seen those videos.”
The state denies the attorney general has the authority to compel those videos’ release, NC Newsline reports.
“Under North Carolina law, the law enforcement agency that is the custodian of those records must petition the court for its release. Additionally, the attorney general’s office does not have oversight of law enforcement agencies and district attorney’s offices,” Jackson spokesman Nazneen Ahmed said in a statement emailed to NC Newsline.
Also in attendance at the press conference was Tenicka Shannon, mother of Fred Cox, an 18-year-old Black man killed by a plainclothes cop because he assumed him to be a gang member. Smith recently received a settlement of $4 million.
“She more than anybody knows the journey that (Henrietta) and her family are going to have to go through to get justice,” said Crump.
Henrietta only spoke a few words at the news conference.
“I watched my baby born into this world, I never thought that my baby would leave this world before me,” she said with tears running down her face in the news conference, which is posted in the video below.
“And I loved my baby. My baby leaves behind five kids. One is in heaven with them and four beautiful kids on this earth who miss their daddy.
“He got all his brothers that love him and sisters, a whole fleet of friends and family and all that we ask is everyone come together and get justice for my son, Tyrone Mason,” the mother added.