The Office of the D.C. Auditor on Wednesday found Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith was “grossly inadequate” for refusing to fire two officers convicted in the 2020 pursuit death of Karon Hylton-Brown, both of whom were pardoned by President Trump earlier this year.
D.C. Auditor Kathleen Patterson skewered Chief Smith in a 119-page report that said she brushed off MPD’s suggested discipline for Officer Terence Sutton and Lieutenant Andrew Zabavsky, the pair who pursued Hylton-Brown until he crashed his scooter into another driver in Northwest.
Hylton-Brown, 20, died in a hospital a short time later.
The auditor further said Chief Smith rejected ideas to improve use-of-force reviews and stick to the internal punishments it has in place for such incidents.
“This failure to engage constructively on proposals to improve use of force investigations is a marked departure from the Metropolitan Police Department’s approach over the last 25 years in an area of law enforcement in which MPD has been a leader,” Ms. Patterson said. She also said it is a “marked departure as well for the Bowser Administration whose previous chiefs of police embraced and enhanced the District’s leadership on use of force.”
The auditor’s report slammed Chief Smith for having no first-hand knowledge of the MPD Internal Affairs Bureau’s own 172-page analysis of the chase that resulted in the fatal crash.
When pressed about why she never read the report, and instead relied on MPD lawyers to look over the document, Chief Smith told auditors that “I’m trying to run a police department.”
The audit also said Chief Smith’s rationale for bringing the officers back onto the force was insufficient.
During a March hearing in front of the D.C. Council, the chief said an internal review found no “coverup” took place. A jury found both cops guilty of obstruction of justice for how they reported the crash to their superiors.
Chief Smith said during the hearing that no officer has ever been fired over violating the department’s pursuit policy. MPD forbids officers from chasing suspects solely for traffic violations, which prosecutors argued was the main reason the two officers pursued Hylton-Brown.
D.C.’s top cop said in her own letter, included in the report, that the officers tried to stop Hylton-Brown because he was a member of the Kennedy Street Crew and had an “extensive and violent criminal history.” Chief Smith said the jury was not allowed to consider those facts at trial.
The chief argued that the audit ignored the effect of the president’s pardons, and that she turned down many of the auditor’s proposals because they already existed in MPD policy.
Chief Smith also said the audit’s lead author, Michael R. Bromwich from The Bromwich Group, had a conflict of interest because of his long-standing personal relationship with the federal judge who presided over Ofc. Sutton and Lt. Zabavsky’s trial.
Mr. Trump pardoned the two officers on his second full day back in the White House. The clemency spared Ofc. Sutton from a five-year prison sentence on a murder conviction, and allowed Lt. Zabavsky to avoid a four-year prison term after being convicted of obstruction and conspiracy.
Chief Smith celebrated the decision at the time, particularly on Ofc. Sutton’s second-degree murder conviction for a police pursuit, which she said was unprecedented.
The department moved to reinstate the two officers in March. Ofc. Sutton, 41, rejoined the department in a non-patrol role, while Lt. Zabavsky, 57, opted to retire.
In October 2020, court documents said, Ofc. Sutton was patrolling in the Brightwood neighborhood in Northwest when he saw Hylton-Brown driving a moped on a sidewalk without a helmet.
Prosecutors said Hylton-Brown ignored Ofc. Sutton’s attempts to make the late-night traffic stop, prompting the MPD officer to follow the motorist for more than 10 blocks at “unreasonable speeds” and even going the wrong way up a one-way street.
Court records said Ofc. Sutton followed Hylton-Brown into an alley and turned off his emergency lights and sirens before accelerating toward the scooter driver.
Hylton-Brown drove out of the alley and was struck by an uninvolved driver, prosecutors said. He died in a hospital two days later.
Prosecutors said neither MPD officer preserved the crash scene and allowed the driver to leave the area after 20 minutes.
Ofc. Sutton and Lt. Zabavsky turned off their body cameras to discuss the incident privately, prosecutors said, and also lied to their commanding officer about their roles in the pursuit and the severity of Hylton-Brown’s injuries.
In her letter to the auditor, Chief Smith said the officers’ actions that evening were the “opposite of a ’cover-up.’”
“The prosecution’s claim that Officer Sutton and Lieutenant Zabavsky prematurely deactivated their [body-worn cameras] to discuss their alleged cover-up is an assertion with literally no evidence to support the theory,” the chief’s letter said.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.