2 D.C. Metropolitan Police Officers Sentenced To Prison For 2020 Murder

Monday, September 16, 2024, 3:15 P.M. ET. 4 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

WASHINGTON, DC.- On Thursday, September 12, 2024, Terence D. Sutton, 40, a Washington D.C. Fourth District Police Officer, and Andrew Zabavsky, 56, a Metropolitan Police Department Lieutenant, appeared in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and were sentenced to federal prison in connection with the October 23, 2020, unauthorized police pursuit that ended in a collision that resulted in the death of Karon Hylton-Brown, 20, in Northwest Washington.

     According to U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, on Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman sentenced Sutton to 66 months in federal prison and Zabavsky to 48 months in federal prison. In addition to the custodial terms, Judge Friedman also ordered Sutton and Zabavaky to serve three years of supervised release upon release from prison.

Jury Finds Sutton And Zabavsky Guilty

     Sutton was found guilty by a federal jury on December 21, 2022, following a nine-week trial of second-degree Murder; and Conspiracy to Obstruct and Obstruction of Justice. The same jury found Zabavsky guilty of Conspiracy to Obstruct and Obstruction of Justice. 

     The jury found that Sutton caused Mr. Hylton-Brown’s death by driving a police vehicle with conscious disregard for an extreme risk of death or serious bodily injury to Mr. Hylton-Brown. The jury further found that Sutton and Zabavsky conspired to hide from Metropolitan Police Department officials the circumstances surrounding the crash that led to Mr. Hylton-Brown’s death.

Evidence And Testimony Presented At Trial

     Evidence presented at trial showed at the time of the offense, Sutton was assigned to the Crime Suppression Team in the Metropolitan Police Department’s Fourth District. Zabavsky supervised the Fourth District’s Crime Suppression Team officers, including Sutton. At around 10:00 p.m. on Friday, October 23, 2020, officers noticed Mr. Hylton-Brown driving a moped without a helmet on the sidewalk in the Brightwood Park area of Northwest Washington.

     Mr. Hylton-Brown, who was unarmed, ignored Sutton’s attempt to stop him and drove off. Sutton then began chasing Mr. Hylton-Brown on neighborhood streets for minutes through ten blocks of the neighborhood at high rates of speed and, at one point, proceeding down the wrong way of a one-way street. In the pursuit’s final moments, Sutton followed Mr. Hylton-Brown into a narrow alley, turned off his car’s emergency lights and siren, and accelerated behind the moped. When Mr. Hylton-Brown reached the street at the end of the alley, he was struck by an oncoming motorist.

     As Mr. Hylton-Brown lay in the street unconscious, Sutton and Zabavsky agreed to cover up what Sutton had done to prevent any further investigation of the incident.

     Neither Sutton, as the lead officer at the scene, nor Zabavsky, the ranking Metropolitan Police official, preserved the crash scene for investigators; they even allowed the driver of the car that struck Mr. Hylton-Brown to leave the crash within 20 minutes.

Turned Off Body Cameras

     They turned off their body-worn cameras, talked privately, and then left the scene. Zabavsky did not authorize any other Metropolitan Police Department official to supervise the scene upon his leaving. Sutton further compromised evidence at the crash scene by driving his police vehicle over the crash site, crushing pieces of the moped and other vehicle as he drove away from the scene. At no point did Sutton or Zabavsky contact the Metropolitan Police Department’s Major Crash Unit or its Internal Affairs Division to initiate an investigation.

     Sutton and Zabavsky continued covering up the incident at the police station. Each of them misled their commanding officer about the nature of the incident by downplaying seriousness, denying that the police chase had even occurred, and omitting any mention of Mr. Hylton-Brown’s critical injuries. Zabavsky also falsely implied that Mr. Hylton-Brown had been a drunk driver. Sutton drafted false police reports into the events surrounding the chase and subsequent crash.

     In the false report, Sutton described Mr. Hylton-Brown’s injuries as only “superficial abrasions on his left eyebrow line.” Mr. Hylton-Brown died two days later, on October 25, 2020, from severe head trauma.

U.S. Attorney Graves Praises Jury

     “The jury, in this case, found the defendants guilty beyond a reasonable doubt for their roles in the murder of Karon Hylton-Brown and a related cover-up, affirming that what happened here was a serious crime,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves. “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.”

     “The FBI follows the rule of law and works to hold those accountable who violate the law, no matter who they are,” said FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Geist. “The community and fellow law enforcement officers deserve trusted officers who do not abuse their positions of trust and power or put the public at risk. Thursday’s sentencing shows the weight of the crimes and the significance of the criminal justice system and processes at work.”