N.C. trooper lied about involvement in fatal crash, agent alleges
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Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: North Carolina Department of Public Safety
A North Carolina state trooper lied about his involvement in an October fatal car crash in Raleigh and attempted to cover it up with his supervisor's approval, a special agent investigating the case alleges in an affidavit for a search warrant executed last week.
Why it matters: The details of the case outlined in that warrant, first obtained and reported by WRAL, shed light on the reasons behind Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman's sudden dismissal of around 200 cases in January.
- Freeman cited the credibility of the trooper involved in those cases, Garrett Macario, saying that after reviewing Macario's bodycam and dashcam footage on the night of the October crash, his reliability as a witness was in question.
- Freeman subsequently opened an investigation into the case with the State Bureau of Investigation, she said.
Driving the news: A special agent assigned to the case applied for a search warrant for communications between Macario and his supervisor, Sgt. Matthew Morrison.
- In the application, the agent alleges that Macario's bodycam footage shows he attempted to stop 31-year-old Tyrone Mason at around 2:30am on Oct. 7, but "disengaged based on the circumstances of Mason's driving behaviors."
- Mason then collided with the median on Capital Boulevard after traveling at a "high rate of speed," the Raleigh Police Department said in a release the night of the crash, and "died as a result of his injuries."
Zoom in: The agent also alleges that, after the wreck, Macario parked his car and requested RPD, fire and EMS, then made a call to Morrison.
- Morrison told Macario that the accident was "RPD's problem" and told him not to tell responding RPD officers that he had tried to stop Mason just before the wreck, the agent says in the document.
- According to the agent, Macario ultimately told an RPD officer that "he was not trying to pull Mason over and that he came up on the wreck."
- Macario and his attorney declined to comment when reached by Axios Tuesday, and Morrison could not immediately be reached for comment.
Of note: Bodycam and dashcam footage is restricted from public access in North Carolina unless a court orders its release.
What's next: A coalition of media organizations, including Axios, filed a petition last month for the release of bodycam and dashcam footage related to the crash.
- A judge ordered the Raleigh Police Department and State Highway Patrol to produce video footage and other recordings related to the crash by May 8 for confidential review, and a hearing in the case is scheduled for May 16.