NC troopers fired after video shows one lied about role in fatal Raleigh 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 North Carolina State Highway Patrol dismissed a state trooper and his supervisor who initially agreed to lie about an attempted traffic stop before a fatal crash in October.
Trooper Garrett Macario and Sgt. Matthew Morrison were dismissed effective June 16, according to Highway Patrol spokesperson Sgt. Christopher Knox.
Tyrone Mason, 31, died Oct. 7 after his 2018 Chevrolet Malibu accelerated and slammed into a concrete barrier on Capital Boulevard near Wake Forest Road in Raleigh, according to a report by Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman.
After reporting the crash to city police without mentioning the chase, Macario called Morrison, his supervisor, and said he tried to stop Mason, but turned his police lights off after concerns about the safety of the pursuit, Highway Patrol video confirmed..
Macario told Morrison that he lost sight of Mason, until the trooper came around a corner and saw the wreckage, the video shows.
“Please tell me you’re (expletive) joking,” Morrison responded. The sergeant told Macario to keep the crash to himself. And he coached him on what to say: “I wouldn’t mention anything to them about you trying to stop him. Just say, ‘Hey man, I drove up on this’ and leave it at that.”
Raleigh police told Henrietta Mason, Tyrone Mason’s mother, that no one had chased her son before he crashed, which she did not believe, she told The News & Observer. It was her months-long quest for answers that lead to the State Bureau of Investigation probe and the two troopers who are now dismissed after being put on administrative leave in late December.
Freeman criticized the troopers’ “dishonesty,” but declined to charge them with any criminal charges. Her report on the incident said that Macario did tell one officer about the pursuit before leaving the crash scene, as well as a Raleigh police caption who called him.
However, due to concerns about both of the troopers’ credibility, her office dismissed about 200 cases involving the officers and vowed not to prosecute any additional cases that would depend on their testimony, her report states.
Freeman said she didn’t have concerns about Macario’s attempting to stop Mason, who accelerated after Macario turned on his lights. A medical examiner’s report says Mason was intoxicated.
Henrietta Mason has since filed a federal lawsuit and is represented by national civil rights attorneys Bakari Sellers, Ben Crump and Raleigh attorney Sean Cecil.
In a statement released Monday, Mason’s attorneys said the troopers’ firing is one step in the right direction “in our journey toward justice.”
“We must also understand that it is only one step in a long journey towards justice for Ms. Mason, the rest of Tyrone’s family and the people of North Carolina,” it reads. “Let’s understand that Trooper Macario not only initiated the unsafe chase that led to Tyrone Mason’s death, but that he also failed to render any aid leaving an honest man to die on the side of the road and then lied to try and cover it up.”
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 June 23, 2025 at 4:12 PM with the headline "NC troopers fired after video shows one lied about role in fatal Raleigh crash."
