CNN
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The Metropolitan Police Department has reinstated two Washington, DC, officers weeks after President Donald Trump pardoned them for their role in the death of 20-year-old Karon Hylton-Brown in 2020, a case that drew protests on the heels of the murder of George Floyd.
Both officers were reinstated by DC’s police department Monday and are once again being paid, an MPD source with knowledge of the reinstatements told CNN. Officer Terence Sutton and Lt. Andrew Zabavsky had been suspended without pay as the legal process played out.
“Officer Sutton and Lt. Zabavsky have been reinstated. MPD does not comment on personnel matters,” a spokesperson for MPD confirmed to CNN in a statement Monday night.
The officers will need go through extensive retraining before the department determines what their assignments will be, the MPD source told CNN. It’s unclear if either officer will return to work in a public facing role.
Sutton was found guilty of second-degree murder, conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of justice and sentenced to 66 months in prison. The same jury found Zabavsky guilty of conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of justice, and he faced 48 months behind bars. Zabavsky and Sutton received a “full and unconditional pardon” just days after Trump was inaugurated.
Sutton, along with his attorney, declined to comment when reached by CNN Monday. CNN has reached out to Zabavsky and his attorney for comment.
Prosecutors argued that in October 2020, Sutton and Zabavsky spotted Hylton-Brown driving a moped helmetless and pursued him at “unreasonable speeds” until he was eventually struck and killed by an uninvolved motorist.
As Hylton-Brown lay dying in the street, the officers covered up the incident, according to investigators, turning off their body cameras, tampering with the scene and misleading their commanding officers about the nature of the incident.
Defense lawyers disputed details about the encounter and argued the court threw out key evidence that gave the officers reasonable suspicion that Hylton-Brown was going to commit a crime. Kellen Dwyer, an attorney for Sutton, told CNN they expected to overturn the conviction on appeal.
The DC police department thanked the president for pardoning Sutton and Zabavsky.
“These members could never have imagined that engaging in a core function of their job would be prosecuted as a crime,” MPD said in a statement at the time. “The Department recognizes the risks involved in vehicle pursuits, which are reflected in our pursuit policy. But violations of that policy should be addressed through training and discipline – not through criminal prosecution.”
In January, Sutton told CNN he was “just overwhelmed” by the pardon and expressed his thanks to the president.
“I want to go back to the police department and finish my career,” he added at the time, saying he had “no clue” if it would be possible.
