Posted on January 24, 2025

Trump Pardons D.C. Officers Sentenced in Connection to Car Chase Death

Nick Gilbertson, Breitbart, January 22, 2025

President Donald Trump gave full pardons to former Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers convicted in connection to the death of Karon Hylton-Brown, 20, who was fatally struck while being chased by one of the officers in 2020.

Trump, on Wednesday night, announced full and unconditional pardons for former officer Terence Sutton and Andrew Zabavsky, who was a lieutenant for the metropolitan police.

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In a release published by then-President Joe Biden’s Justice Department in September 2024, prosecutors said on the night of October 23, 2020, Sutton pursued Hylton-Brown, who was operating a moped, in a vehicular chase after Hylton-Brown refused to stop for Sutton. {snip}

{snip} Sutton accelerated, and Hylton-Brown was struck by a third vehicle, which was not part of the chase, when he drove onto a street at the end of the alley {snip}

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A filing in the case from one of Sutton’s attorneys said that “on the day of his death, Hylton-Brown was identified in a ‘beat book’ prepared by DC Police’s Intelligence Unit as a verified member of KDY” or the Kennedy Street Crew gang, WUSA reported.

The attorney, J. Michael Hannon, “argued at trial that another officer had flagged suspicious behavior by Hylton-Brown earlier in the day and said Sutton and Zabavsky believed he had returned to Brightwood Park that evening to retaliate after a dispute,” per the outlet.

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