NC troopers investigated after fatal Raleigh crash won’t be charged, Wake DA says
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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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Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman will not charge a trooper and his supervisor at the center of an investigation on whether they lied to Raleigh police about a trooper’s involvement in a fatal crash.
“While their dishonesty violates the standards to which law enforcement officers must adhere, the District Attorney is not pursuing criminal charges as the evidence would not support a successful prosecution,” Freeman states in a report released Wednesday.
Tyrone Mason, 31, died after his 2018 Chevrolet Malibu slammed into a concrete barrier on Capital Boulevard near Wake Forest Road on Oct. 7 just past 2:30 a.m. He had a blood alcohol level of at least .11, which is above the state’s 0.08 limit, Freeman said in a report on her decision.
In the report, Freeman expresses concern about how Raleigh police handled the investigation and State Trooper Garrett Macario’s actions after he arrived on the crash scene. “Notably Trooper Macario did not attempt to make contact or provide care to Mr. Mason,” Freeman’s report states.
The report also states Macario and his supervisor’s actions after the crash undermine their credibility.
“As a result, the District Attorney has determined that her office will not prosecute cases in which the testimony of Trooper Macario or Sergeant Matthew Morrison is required to prove the underlying offense,” it states.
Following the crash, Macario denied any involvement beyond driving up to the wreck and calling it in, according to search warrants obtained by the State Bureau of Investigation. But Freeman’s report says that while he did not disclose it to the first officers who arrived at the scene, he did tell an officer before he left and also told a Raleigh police captain who called him.
Raleigh police initially told Henrietta Mason, Tyrone’s mother, that the trooper didn’t try to pull her son over, she told The News & Observer. Because she did not believe that, she launched a months-long quest for answers.
What she uncovered led to a state investigation into Macario and Morrison, his supervisor, which revealed the men had talked about not disclosing that Macario had chased Mason.
Attorneys condemn decision not to charge
Attorneys representing Tyrone Mason’s family quickly released a statement Wednesday’s condemning Freeman’s decision not to charge.
“Today’s decision by the District Attorney flies in the face of accountability, justice and common sense. It’s an insult to Tyrone Mason’s family and the people of North Carolina,” the statement said.
The attorneys, which includes national civil rights attorney Bakari Sellers and Ben Crump, along with Raleigh attorney Sean Cecil, say the chase was “ill advised” and Macario failed to render any aid to help Mason, “leaving him to die.”
They are also skeptical of some of the new information that Freeman’s report included.
“Henrietta Mason is heartbroken once again.” she said. “Not only has she had to bury her son, she has been failed repeatedly by the North Carolina State Troopers, the Raleigh Police and now Wake County District Attorney,” the attorneys’ statements says.
Later Wednesday, Henrietta Mason filed a federal lawsuit against Macario. The lawsuit says he initiated a dangerous chase and then failed to help Tyrone Mason after he hit the concrete barrier. Instead, he began “conspiring” with Morrison to cover up Macario’s role in the wreck, the lawsuit states.
They argue in the lawsuit that Macario violated Mason’s U.S. constitutional rights to due process and to be free of “deliberate indifference to serious medical needs.”
The State Highway Patrol, which oversees troopers, said Macario and Morrison remain on administrative leave, said spokesperson Sgt. Christopher Knox in an emailed statement.
Macario’s and Morrison’s initial statements “do not reflect the high standards we place upon our members,” the statement says.
“We do believe, however, that this collision was a result of Mr. Mason’s actions alone and that is reflected in the unbiased collision report completed by the Raleigh Police Department,” Knox wrote.
New information about the investigation
The criminal investigation focused on whether Macario’s efforts to stop Mason and whether Macario and his supervisor’s statements obstructed justice.
Macario’s dashboard- and body-camera video showed that he tried to stop Mason for speeding around 2:30 a.m. on the night of the fatal crash.
Mason quickly accelerated to an estimated 100 mph, Freeman’s report states. Macario then ended his efforts to pull over Mason by deactivating his lights and slowing down.
“Tragically, at about that same moment, Mr. Mason lost control of his vehicle, crossed the median and struck a concrete barrier,” Freeman’s report says.
Freeman’s investigation found that Macario and Morrison did discuss not sharing with Raleigh police that Macario attempted to stop Mason before the fatal crash. And that Macario did tell initial responding officers that he wasn’t involved.
However, just before he left the scene, Macario told an officer that he did try to stop Mason, Freeman’s report states. Macario said the same thing to a Raleigh captain who reached out to Macario later.
But investigators from the Wake County Bureau of Forensic Services and Raleigh Police’s Crash Reconstruction Unit received different information, the report states.
A county investigator spoke with an officer who said the trooper did try to pull Mason over. The Raleigh police investigator was told that Macario had just come up on the wreck, Freeman’s report states.
Macario’s initial “false statements” are “inexcusable” but his “subsequent truthful statements within the relevant time frame prevent the State from being able to move forward with a successful prosecution,” Freeman wrote.
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,“ Freeman said.
Freeman’s report also expressed concerns about Raleigh police’s handling of the investigation. And it refers specifically to Henrietta Mason, Tyrone’s mother.
“While the root cause of the confusion about what preceded the accident is directly attributable to Trooper Macario’s untruthfulness, Mrs. Mason may have had her questions about her son’s death answered earlier had a more thorough job of investigating the circumstance of the wreck been done,” the report states.
Raleigh police respond
Raleigh police responded to Freeman’s report late Wednesday, saying in a statement that the trooper providing “misleading” information “contributed to a series of communications failures within RPD.”
“We are reviewing our crash investigation procedures, specifically, how we interact with families of victims,” the statement said.
Raleigh police are committed to updating their “procedures and instituting more levels of review to ensure more timely and effective communication both inside and outside the organization,” the statement said.
The investigation into the crash continues, including reviewing Highway Patrol videos that a judge recently ordered to be released to Raleigh police, the statement said.
“Compassion is one of our values, and we recognize and acknowledge the delay it took for Mr. Mason’s family to get answers fell short of our high-held standards,” the statement from Raleigh Police said.
Freeman started gathering information after Henrietta Mason went to the State Bureau of Investigation on Dec. 23, Freeman said in an interview earlier this year.
Raleigh police initially told the grieving mother that the trooper didn’t try to pull her son over, she told The News & Observer. In December, just before she was about to watch Highway Patrol videos from the night of her son’s death, an officer from that agency called her and said that a trooper did chase her son, she said.
Freeman’s report says she shared her concerns about the officers’ conduct with the State Highway Patrol, which will decide about their future employment. She also shared her concerns with North Carolina Criminal Justice Training and Standards Division, which has the authority to pull the officers’ certification.
On May 16, Superior Court Judge Thomas Currin said that Raleigh police and Highway Patrol officials must release relevant videos related to the chase and the crash. They are expected to be released this week.
Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The N&O maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published May 21, 2025 at 2:40 PM with the headline "NC troopers investigated after fatal Raleigh crash won’t be charged, Wake DA says."
