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Officer Terence Sutton, 38, and former Lt. Andrew Zabavsky were both found guilty by a US District Court jury in DC on multiple charges in connection to a police pursuit on Oct. 23, 2020, in Northwest Washington that ended in Hylton-Brown’s death.
According to prosecutors, the jury determined that Sutton caused Hylton-Brown’s death by driving a police vehicle “in conscious disregard for an extreme risk of death or serious bodily injury to (him).”
The jury further found that Sutton and Zabavsky conspired and sought to hide from the circumstances of the fatal crash with Metropolitan Police Department officials as details emerged in the case.
At the time of the fatal police pursuit, Sutton was assigned to the Crime Suppression Team in the department's Fourth Police District, which was overseen by Zabavsky.
Prosecutors say that the pursuit began at approximately 10 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23 when Hylton-Brown was driving a moped on the sidewalk in the Brightwood Park area of Northwest Washington.
That pursuit continued for nearly a dozen blocks and into an alley near the 700 block of Kennedy Street NW, which resulted in Hylton-Brown being struck by an oncoming vehicle.
Hylton-Brown suffered severe head trauma and died days later on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020.
At the time he was murdered, Hylton-Brown was doing nothing illegal, according to Alexis Brown, the father of their child, who was 3 months old at the time of his death.
“He got on a registered motorcycle to go get his car keys, which he lost, he had no gun or drugs on him,” Brown wrote on a GoFundMe page that raised nearly $14,000 following Hylton-Brown’s death.
Prosecutors said that Sutton was found guilty of second-degree murder, conspiracy to obstruct, and obstruction of justice. Zabavsky was guilty of conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of justice.
The murder charge carries a maximum term of 40 years in prison, and they face 20 years for obstruction of justice and five years on the conspiracy charge.
No sentencing date has been announced.
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