By: Jordan Meadows
Staff Writer
The dynamics between law enforcement agencies and the broader communities they serve, particularly in North Carolina and the City of Raleigh, has been a longstanding issue, especially where accountability is swept under the rug. This is particularly concerning when it involves Black males, who are disproportionately affected by excessive force, wrongful arrests, and suspicious deaths.
The case of Tyrese Mason highlights this pervasive issue. In October 2024, Mason died in a suspicious car crash on Capital Boulevard, and questions quickly arose about the actions of state troopers investigating the incident.
District Attorney Lorrin Freeman’s review revealed that Trooper Garrett Macario, who investigated Mason’s death, had provided false and misleading information to Raleigh police, leading to a loss of credibility in the case. As a result, the case was dismissed. Mason’s case is not an isolated incident but part of a troubling pattern that underscores a deeper problem within North Carolina law enforcement.
Civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Bakari Sellers, who joined Mason’s family in seeking justice, argue that the misconduct goes beyond this one case. Sellers, in particular, pointed to numerous instances where troopers failed to render aid following police chases and urged for a thorough investigation into the practices of the State Highway Patrol.
The fact that these officers have been with the force for a decade or longer is concerning to many in Raleigh and the state generally. How can the community trust that these are the only cases they were involved in? How can they know justice will be served? What can people do to improve the situation?
I spoke with Dr. Kimberly D. Muktarian, a Raleigh native, Journalist, historian, and civil rights activist about a culture of cover-ups in the North Carolina, Wake County, and City of Raleigh law enforcement agencies.
She explains that the culture of cover-up is not a new phenomenon: it simply replaced the old system.
“We have to go back and ask how our cities and states were formed. And who were they formed for? When they chartered these states, they were not made for Black liberation. They opened up with enslavement,” Dr. Kim said. “Right here in the city of Raleigh, Blacks were pushed into smaller settings for slavery and most of what we see around us is former plantations—all the streets are named after former slave owners.”
Kim says that it went from slave patrol to the Confederacy in uniforms to current-day law enforcement. All the while, Black plight was being inflicted on the community and its happenings were being suppressed.
“They take off the uniform and then they put on another uniform; instead of cotton, they start chasing oxycontin,” she said.
Dr. Kim makes a point of emphasis on the idea that Black people are no longer private property, they are property of the state, using the disproportionality of Blacks in the prison systems:
“Nothing much has changed. The only thing that has changed is the fugitive slave law, which means at least when we were slaves, you could beat us an inch near death, and they would prefer that if they had to chase you, you were brought back to the plantation alive. Today that is not the case. They just gun you down, and you barely make it to the curb. And so that is where we are. Our value is so low that you don’t have to keep us alive.”
While Raleigh has a reputation for being a safe, burgeoning city, Dr. Kim questions that reputation and brings examples from the city’s tragic past as support.
“They say that we are the third safest place in the nation. I often have to ask, ‘Who is safe and safe from who?’ Of course, some people are protected and served, and others are occupied and managed. In our communities, we are more managed and occupied than protected and served. Daryll Williams is a result of that,” Dr. Kim said.
She also explains how officers drove up to the parking lot where it was assumed drugs were being used and distributed. They came with their lights off and did not introduce themselves as officers: “We call those predatory stops because it’s a sneak attack.”
Omar Abdullah, a Black detective leader on the Vice squad, was also mentioned as part of the culture of cover-up. Abdullah was arrested in August 2022 in connection to a string of wrongful drug arrests that took place between 2019 and 2020. He was accused of framing 23 people over fake heroin deals and conspiring to target Black men for arrest. He was sentenced to 38 days in jail and two years of supervised probation.
Another example is DC Twitty, another member of the Vice squad. Twiddy had been pursuing a man wanted on a felony drug charge when he fired at the suspect and killed him. Twiddy has been with the city’s police department since 2010 and was placed on administrative duty as the state investigated the deadly shooting. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman did not file criminal charges in that case. Twiddy was again placed on administrative leave in 2024 when he said on social media that Juneteenth is a “made-up holiday.”
“We can go on and on about corruption,” Dr. Kim said. “It’s certainly a culture, and I think what’s disturbing is that when they start recruiting African Americans to be a part of that culture after the civil rights fight, it makes us wonder who we are and who we become when we get power.”
When discussing corruption in law enforcement, it’s only a matter of time before one inevitably reaches the case of George Floyd.
“Even though they prosecuted Derek Chauvin, he had 17 prior grievances before he killed George Floyd. But on his watch, there was a Black chief of police,” Dr. Kim explained. “Like Raleigh, we have Black chiefs, but we also have chiefs that are complicit or complacent—they use qualified immunity and they just turn a blind eye.”
Dr. Kim suggests that, for potential areas of improvement, Black officers should recognize and fully understand their responsibilities and the communities they serve.
“I think that there should be room for African Americans to be honest about what they’re taking part in when they become a career servant in any area. What has happened is they don’t take ownership of being Black once they become an employee, even though that career choice may select them to be a face,” she said.
In other words, don’t allow the system to use you as a diversity figure and then pressure you into treating community members differently based on their appearance. Don’t be afraid to call out the status quo in law enforcement culture— work to actively change it.
“I don’t think they stop the culture because they are scared of retaliation; lack of protection from others on site. I believe they don’t want to look as if it’s ‘us against them’. They want to have a unified front,” Dr. Kim explained.
However, young Black men don’t typically have to worry about getting killed by Black officers: all the shootings in Raleigh come from white male officers. Sometimes more than one is involved.
“I think that’s where the rift between communication and trust comes in, because while every cop is not bad, the good cops are just quietly allowing the bad cops to be bad,” she said. “That is what breaks down our community generation after generation, and that is how the culture is allowed to continue to exist and permeate throughout the city.”
