By: Jordan Meadows
Staff Writer
In October 2024, Tyrone Mason died in a suspicious car crash on Capital Boulevard, and questions quickly arose about the actions of state troopers investigating the incident.
Mason, 31, had a blood alcohol level of about .11, the medical examiner found. But while impairment played a role, recent developments have drawn new scrutiny to how law enforcement and prosecutors handled the aftermath — and what many see as a troubling pattern of institutional cover-ups.
Earlier this year, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman revealed that questions about both troopers’ credibility — Trooper Garrett Macario and Sgt. Matthew Morrison — led her to drop over 180 driving-while-impaired cases.
In her report on the Mason case released Wednesday, Freeman noted that Macario didn’t try to contact or help Mason in the immediate aftermath of the wreck. Despite these findings, Freeman said she would neither be pursuing criminal charges on the officers who lied and who didn’t seek to help Mason once the crash occurred nor would she be recommending any of these be fired or face disciplinary measures.
For months, Mason’s family demanded the release of video footage related to the crash. Mason’s mother, Henrietta Mason, repeatedly sought accurate information about her son’s death.
A Wake County judge on May 16 ordered the release of the footage after a petition from news outlets. Freeman stated in her report that although Macario’s statements caused confusion about the wreck, police could have answered Henrietta Mason’s questions earlier if they had done a more thorough investigation.
According to officials, Macario and Morrison are on administrative leave while an internal investigation is being conducted. But for many in the community, this is not enough.
About a month ago, The Carolinian ran a series featuring Dr. Kimberly D. Muktarian, a Raleigh native, journalist, historian, and civil rights activist, examining what she described as a “culture of cover-ups” in North Carolina, Wake County, and City of Raleigh law enforcement agencies. When the District Attorney’s report surfaced and the judge ordered the release of the video, The Carolinian again spoke with Dr. Kim about how the Mason case adds more evidence to that theory.
“The problem is that blacks are not valuable enough for white officers to be prosecuted,” Dr. Kim said. “And so until our district attorney Lauren Freeman can see blacks as worthy of true protection against all forms of discrimination, murder, then she will not prosecute.”
Dr. Kim referenced the case of Kyron Hinton, who died in 2019. Hinton's family said at the time that they believed Hinton was killed for the $83,000 settlement he received from the Wake County Sheriff's Office for a 2018 beating in an incident involving law enforcement officers. Hinton's death was investigated as a homicide, but District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said that there was not sufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime. Hinton died just one day after receiving that settlement.
Dr. Kim says the officers who are involved with the Mason case have been on the force for years, so to only look at about 200 cases they’re involved with is an underrating of their impact on the community.
“He obviously got that permission directly or indirectly from those who are over him, explicitly or implicitly. So, this is a culture of practice within their departments. Pretty much like Derek Chauvin, who had at least 17 prior grievances before he killed George Floyd.”
Freeman herself acknowledged that Macario’s intent in not initially disclosing the stop “was to keep them from not having to manage the crash scene and do the crash reconstruction investigation.“
“We have daughters of the Confederacy,” Dr. Kim asserted. “And she has no intention of holding them accountable because she is looking for more ways to protect them by just doing the bare minimum if anything. They all think alike; they’re in this together.”
Dr. Kim argues that systemic problems call for independent oversight beyond internal police or district attorney investigations: “I think they should begin to engage with alternatives, or independent agencies, or sources of research reporting and investigations. Why? Because we all know that it is virtually impossible to punish yourself.”
A couple of days after speaking with Dr. Kim, officials released the police footage of the incident. One of the videos from the State Highway Patrol shows Trooper Garrett Macario responding to the crash, speaking with Sgt. Matthew Morrison either over the phone or a walkie-talkie. Morrison was not at the scene.
According to the video released, Macario was chasing Mason. Macario claimed Mason was driving 70 mph in a 40 mph zone. A video shows Macario decided to end the chase after about one minute and nine seconds. The videos do not show Macario attempting to render aid to Mason, even though he acknowledged the fatal crash.
With Macario and Morrison still employed and only on administrative leave, and with no charges or disciplinary actions on the horizon, many are left wondering whether the system is once again protecting itself — at the cost of justice for Tyrone Mason and accountability for those in power.
