Mother’s lawsuit accuses NC trooper of unsafe chase, not helping son after crash
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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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The mother of a man who died in a fatal Raleigh wreck last year filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday accusing a North Carolina state trooper of initiating a dangerous chase and then failing to help the driver after he slammed into a concrete barrier.
The lawsuit was filed by Henrietta Mason against State Trooper Garrett Macario, who tried to pull over her son, Tyrone Mason, on Oct. 7 around 2:30 a.m.
Mason, 31, died after his 2018 Chevrolet Malibu accelerated and slammed into a concrete barrier on Capital Boulevard near Wake Forest Road, according to a report by District Attorney Lorrin Freeman.
Instead of checking on or helping Mason after the wreck, Macario began “conspiring” with his supervisor, Sgt. Matthew Morrison, to cover up Macario’s role in the wreck, the lawsuit states.
After the wreck, Macario examined the exterior of Mason’s car, “but did not render aid or even check to see if he was alive, injured or in need of assistance,” the lawsuit states.
Instead of helping Mason, Macario called his supervisor Sgt. Matthew Morrison, and said he tried to stop Mason, but turned his police lights off after concerns about the safety of the pursuit, according to State Bureau of Investigation search warrants.
Macario told Morrison that he lost sight of Mason, until the trooper came around a corner and saw smoke from the wreckage, the lawsuit states. He also said that he didn’t share on the radio that he had started and ended the pursuit.
Morrison told Macario to tell Raleigh police that he “drove up on” the wreck, the lawsuit states.
Morrison then asked Macario if he confirmed that Mason had died.
“Macario replied ‘yeah,’ despite having made no attempts to check on Decedent Mason or ascertain his status,” the lawsuit states.
Afterwards, Macario again approached Mason’s car and did a “cursory inspection” of the outside of the car, but didn’t check or determine Mason’s condition, the lawsuit states.
“As such, no one attempted to render aid to Decedent until officers from the Raleigh Police Department arrived on scene and learned that Defendant Macario had not already done so,” the lawsuit states.
A state medical examiner’s report states that Mason died at the scene of the crash.
Lawsuit follows DA report
The lawsuit came the same day that Freeman announced that she wouldn’t file charges against Macario or Morrison, though she expressed concerns about how Raleigh police handled the investigation and Macario’s actions after he arrived on the crash scene.
“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.
Freeman’s report also pointed out Macario’s lack of action after the crash.
“Notably Trooper Macario did not attempt to make contact or provide care to Mr. Mason,” Freeman’s report states.
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. She did not believe that and launched a months-long quest for answers. Freeman’s report states that Macario did tell an officer before he left the scene and also told a Raleigh police captain who called him.
Freeman’s report said she disagreed that the chase was unsafe. She said Mason accelerated to nearly 100 mph and had a blood alcohol level of at least .11, which is above the state’s 0.08 limit.
The State Highway Patrol, which oversees troopers, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit. In response to Freeman’s report, Sgt. Christopher Knox said in a statement that Macario’s and Morrison’s initial statements “do not reflect the high standards we place upon our members.”
“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.
The family’s attorneys include national civil rights attorneys Bakari Sellers and Ben Crump, along with Raleigh attorney Sean Cecil.
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.”
As a result of Macario’s actions, Mason’s family has suffered monetary losses, including medical, funeral and other expenses, the lawsuit states.
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 6:18 PM with the headline "Mother’s lawsuit accuses NC trooper of unsafe chase, not helping son after crash."
