By: Jordan Meadows
Staff Writer
Outrage continues to grow in the wake of newly released body cam footage showing two North Carolina state troopers discussing a cover-up after the October 2024 crash that killed Tyrone Mason.
A Thursday rally outside the Wake County Justice Center brought together civil rights leaders, attorneys, and state officials demanding accountability — after the Wake County District Attorney announced the troopers involved would not face charges.
Mason died after a high-speed pursuit down Capital Boulevard ended in a deadly crash. Recently released footage shows Trooper Garrett Macario and his supervisor, Sgt. Matthew Morrison discusses how to lie about the chase. Despite this, both remain on paid administrative leave, and District Attorney Lorrin Freeman has declined to file charges.
The family’s rally was led by Rev. Gregory Drumright, founder of Justice for the Next Generation, who criticized Freeman’s handling of the case.
“I have a hard time believing, DA Freeman, that if you knew that there was a breach of transparency and accountability initially, that might have saved Tyrone’s life, you should have dignified the loss of his life seeking to file charges against these troopers,” Drumright said. “Because he [the trooper] lied first, everything after that should not only be in question but should remain in question.”
Attorneys Bakari Sellers and Ben Crump, representing the Mason family, delivered impassioned calls for the firing of Macario and Morrison and vowed to pursue civil litigation to hold law enforcement accountable.
“I hate just having marches and rallies without a purpose because if you have a march without a purpose, you’re just getting your steps in,” Sellers said. “Today what we are here for is the calling for the immediate firing of Marcario and his supervisor.”
He sharply criticized the bodycam footage showing the troopers fabricating the story about the crash.
“If you are a Democrat or Republican, if you are Black or white, if you are of legal status or an immigrant to this country, what we saw on those videos should trouble your spirit,” Sellers said. “The fact that we saw with our own eyes officers lie, conspired to cover up their lie, should trouble you all.”
Sellers also revealed that Freeman had initially denied the existence of any video footage to him — even while admitting the officers had lied — and that Raleigh police misinformed Mason’s mother for weeks, saying her son had not been pursued by police.
Following the rally, DA Lorrin Freeman defended her office’s actions in an interview with WRAL News.
“I’m disappointed that they seem insistent on spreading misinformation about this case,” Freeman said, claiming Sellers and Crump misled the public.
She argued that her office conducted a thorough investigation and that the time of death and other findings were correctly reported. “We have a crime scene analyst who showed up on the scene to do the investigation,” Freeman said.
Many community members and advocates see this case as emblematic of a justice system that protects its own—a “culture of coverups”. Earlier this year, Freeman dismissed over 180 DWI cases involving the same officers due to credibility issues.
Despite evidence showing Macario never rendered aid to Mason after the crash — and the fact that both troopers conspired to lie about what happened — Freeman concluded that no criminal charges were warranted and that she wouldn’t recommend any firings or disciplinary measures.
The May 16 release of bodycam footage — ordered by a Wake County judge following a media petition — finally revealed the truth: Mason had been chased, they lied about it, and troopers made no effort to render aid.
Ben Crump, who has represented numerous families in high-profile police brutality cases, had strong words about what this case reveals:
“The state troopers didn’t know what they were facing when they tried to cover up the killing of Tyrone Mason! The investigators… Lorrin Freeman… the county and Raleigh community… the state of North Carolina didn’t know what they were facing when they tried to cover up the killing of Tyrone Mason!”
Crump continued by emphasizing Henrietta Mason’s courage and the broader implications.
“We need her to know she’s not by herself. Today they [NC law enforcement] will know. The world will know.”
Crump also passionately reflected on how video evidence has become crucial in exposing what Black communities have said about police interactions for generations.
“For decades–way before George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery–Black people would say, ‘the police are brutalizing us… using excessive force against us… lying on us.’ And nobody would believe us because it was your word against a police officer’s word. Now we have a video. We believed if we gave the prosecutors uncontroversial evidence that at least we would have equal justice under the law,” Crump said. “What DA Freeman is telling this family—she’s slapping us in our face. She’s saying ‘I don’t care what evidence you have, it doesn’t matter. I’m still going to take the cops’ word over any evidence you have.”
Macario and Morrison remain employed. The Mason family’s legal team is preparing for a civil suit aimed at exposing what they describe as systemic failures. In the meantime, Tyrone Mason’s death continues to echo through the community — not only as a personal tragedy but as another chapter in the long struggle for police accountability and racial justice in North Carolina..
