Activists condemn Wake DA, call for officers to be fired in crash and cover-up
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Investigation into NC troopers after fatal crash
Tyrone Mason, 31, died after his car slammed into a concrete barrier on Capital Boulevard near Wake Forest Road in Raleigh the early hours of Oct. 7. A Highway Patrol trooper, after talking with his supervisor, did not immediately disclose that he had pursued Mason before the crash. Mason’s mother says she was told no officer chased her son before he died. What she learned on her own launched a state investigation into the officers’ behavior.
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Activists, lawyers and family members gave a public and sometimes tearful condemnation of Wake District Attorney Lorrin Freeman Thursday, accusing her of “slapping us in the face” for failing to prosecute any officers for the cover-up and failure to investigate Tyrone Mason’s fatal car crash.
National civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Bakari Sellers called for both N.C. troopers and a Raleigh police investigator to be fired over their handling of the October crash, after which a highway patrolman appears on video talking with his supervisor about how to avoid telling the truth about his high-speed chase.
“If you are a Democrat or a Republican,” Sellers said, “if you are Black or white ... what we saw in these videos should trouble your spirit. The fact that we saw with our own eyes officers lying, conspiring to cover up their lies, should trouble you all.”
“Can you imagine if this was your child?” Crump echoed. “Can you imagine if this was Lorrin Freeman’s child? Can you imagine if this was the Raleigh mayor’s child?”
Wearing a shirt with her son’s picture on the front, Henrietta Mason stood in front of the Wake County Courthouse and, with her voice shaking, rebuked Freeman personally:
“You told me to my face you were on my side, but no. You’re on the side of the state troopers that lied. If they did this to my baby, how many other babies did they do this to that we don’t know about?”
What happened to Tyrone Mason?
Mason died in October after his 2018 Chevrolet Malibu slammed into a concrete barrier on Capital Boulevard near Wake Forest Road just past 2:30 a.m. Tests after the crash showed the 31-year-old’s blood alcohol level at .11, higher the state’s 0.08 limit.
State Trooper Garrett Macario arrived on the crash scene shortly afterward but did not try to reach or provide any care for Mason, according to a report from Freeman.
After the crash, Macario denied any involvement beyond driving up and reporting the wreck, according to search warrants obtained by the State Bureau of Investigation. But Freeman’s report says he did describe his actions to a Raleigh officer before he left the scene and to a Raleigh police captain who called him.
SBI warrants said that Macario called his supervisor, Sgt. Matthew Morrison, and told him he tried to stop Mason, then turned off his police lights, being concerned about the safety of the pursuit.
Henrietta Mason, Tyrone’s mother, told The N&O that Raleigh police told her at first that the trooper did not try to pull over her son. She did not believe that, so she launched a months-long quest for answers.
What she uncovered led to a state investigation into Macario and Morrison, which revealed the men had discussed not disclosing Macario’s pursuit of Mason.
Freeman has since said she would not prosecute any cases that involve either Macario or Morrison’s testimony. But to the Mason family’s outrage, she also declined to charge either trooper, saying the evidence would not lead to successful prosecution.
“I think about the times they arrested Black people with no evidence at all,” said Crump. “But now, you’ve got the video evidence in your hand and you refuse to file charges on the killer cops.”
Sellers said Freeman brought the legal team into the courthouse, started to “shake a little bit” and told them she made the decision because Macario had told the truth after the initial false statement.
“You tell this broken-hearted mother,” said Crump, “with all the authority invested in you, you tell her you’re going to take the word of a documented liar and not charge him for the ill-advised chase and the refusal to render aid and the conspiracy to cover up the death of her son. I don’t pretend to ever be the smartest guy in the room, but that logic ain’t logical.”
Thursday’s rally drew Sen. Natalie Murdock, D-Durham, who called for a “thorough investigation.”
“Tyrone Mason’s life had value. His life mattered. We can’t simply sweep this under the rug and keep things moving.”
Mason’s family has since filed a federal lawsuit against Macario, alleging he conspired with his supervisor to cover up the chase prior to the wreck and “did not render aid or even check to see if he was alive, injured or in need of assistance.”
Sellers said the Raleigh Police Department would be added to a federal lawsuit already filed against the NC Highway Patrol. Many speakers noted that the department told Mason’s mother there had been no chase despite the trooper telling Raleigh officers about it at the scene.
He credited Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce for offering to meet, but said his team had to decline because of revelations the department knew there had been a chase and told Mason’s mother the opposite.
“Nobody had the wherewithal to tell us the truth,” Sellers said.
He added that Gov. Josh Stein and N.C. Attorney General Jeff Jackson are friends, but said their silence on the case has been both “deafening” and “acquiescence.”
“There needs to be some coming to Jesus,” Sellers said, “even for people we love.”
This story was originally published May 29, 2025 at 12:37 PM.
