Recordings released last week by the North Carolina Highway Patrol and Raleigh Police Department show state trooper Garrett Macario pursuing 31-year-old Tyrone Mason along Capital Boulevard in the early morning hours of October 7, 2024.
But upon discovering Mason’s vehicle wrecked, Macario did not attempt to render aid to Mason. Instead, Macario called his supervisor, Matthew Morrison, and in a recording of their conversation, the two decided that Macario would tell responding police officers that he was not chasing Mason’s vehicle and had only happened upon the crash.
The recordings were released Friday following a successful court petition brought by a coalition of media outlets including the INDY and The Assembly. Mason’s family had also pushed for their public release. The recordings include Macario’s body- and dash-camera footage as well as body-cam footage from responding Raleigh police officers.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said in a report released Wednesday that she would not file criminal charges against either Macario or Morrison related to the crash. She had announced in January that she was dismissing more than 200 cases involving the two after the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) prompted her to review recordings from the crash, which was under investigation.
Also Wednesday, Henrietta Mason, Tyrone Mason’s mother, filed a federal lawsuit against Macario for failing to render aid and violating Mason’s constitutional rights to due process.
What the Recordings Show
The recordings show Macario stationed outside the Speedway gas station on Capital Boulevard just north of downtown Raleigh. A vehicle approaches from behind, traveling north, and Macario turns on his sirens and begins a chase that lasts just over a minute. Macario then switches off the sirens, drives past the crash, turns around, and returns to the wreck site.
Macario’s body-camera records him calling for Raleigh police and emergency medical services. He gets out of his red unmarked car and surveys the scene with a flashlight. Macario approaches Mason’s smashed-up black Chevrolet Malibu and inspects the damage but does not look inside or ask if the driver needs help. He then walks away from the car, checks out the crash debris, picks up a tire and removes it from the road. Back at his vehicle, Macario places a call to Morrison.
Macario can be heard telling Morrison he clocked a car coming out of downtown “at like, 70 [miles per hour] in a 40.”
“And I went to stop him, he took off. And I just went ahead and disengaged [because of the] driving behaviors coming outbound and when I came around the corner—I had already turned my shit off—he wrecked … .”
“Please tell me you’re fucking joking,” Morrison says.
“No,” Macario responds. He then reiterates that he had turned his lights and sirens off and drove up to where Mason’s vehicle had wrecked on Atlantic Avenue.
Morrison asks if Macario had radioed in the chase.
“No sir, the second I realized that it was not a smart chase, I literally turned all my stuff off. I had lost sight [and] when I came around the corner, I saw the smoke.”
“Sounds to me like that’s RPD’s problem,” Morrison can be heard saying.
Macario says RPD is on the way and acknowledges he is the first law enforcement officer on scene.
“I mean, I’m not being, like, weird about it, I just did not feel it was a safe chase,” Macario says.
Morrison asks if Macario’s camera “is still rolling.” Macario says it is, but on a different recording since he had “already disengaged.” Morrison reiterates what happened as Macario described it, and again says it is “RPD’s problem.”
“I wouldn’t mention anything to them [RPD] about you trying to stop him,” Morrison says.
“No, I won’t,” Macario agrees.
“Just say ‘Hey man, I drove up on this’ and leave it at that,” Morrison says.
Macario confirms EMS is on the way, and Morrison asks if Macario has “confirmed he [Mason] is DRT, though,” thought to mean “dead right there” according to Henrietta Mason’s lawsuit.
“Yeah,” Macario says.
“Okey-dokey,” Morrison says. “…Yeah, that’s RPD’s problem, I wouldn’t say shit to them. …”
They end the call.
Later, Macario’s body-cam footage shows him approaching two Raleigh police officers as they walk up to the crash.
“Yeah, it’s a fatal,” Macario tells them. “I rolled up on it. He obviously came over the median.”
The officers ask Macario if he had checked on the driver.
“Not yet, no,” Macario says.
Once police and EMS are on the scene and responding, body-worn camera footage shows a Raleigh police officer approaching Macario, who is standing a few feet away from Mason’s car.
“Were you, like, trying to pull him over or something?,” the police officer asks Macario.
“Mm-mm, no,” Macario responds. “This is just the little area I work. So, when I came up on it, I saw all the smoke and heard all the cars hitting the debris. I moved a tire out of the road and I guess everything else [on the scene] is still intact.”
No Charges from Wake DA
In her report, Freeman wrote that Mason had accelerated to about 100 miles per hour “in response to Trooper Macario’s attempt to stop [him].” Mason lost control of the vehicle, the report states, causing his death from “multiple blunt force injuries including a fracture to his cervical spine.”
According to the state Office of Chief Medical Examiner, Mason had a blood alcohol level of .11 at the time of the crash.
The report states that dash cam video captured Macario speaking with another Raleigh police officer “within ten minutes of Macario’s initial statements” denying that he chased Mason. No audio recordings of the conversation exist, but the police officer told SBI investigators that Macario acknowledged “that he had attempted to stop Mr. Mason from speeding prior to the wreck.” A Raleigh police captain also told investigators that Macario acknowledged that he had tried to stop Mason for speeding.
“Trooper Macario’s efforts to stop Mr. Mason do not give rise to any criminal violation,” Freeman’s report states. “While Trooper Macario’s initial false statements to the officers who arrived on scene to investigate this wreck are inexcusable … his subsequent truthful statements within the relevant timeframe prevent the State from being able to move forward with a successful prosecution.”
Freeman concludes that the evidence suggests Macario and Morrison were initially untruthful “to keep them from having to manage the crash scene and do the crash reconstruction investigation.” The comments about the crash being “RPD’s problem” allude to this, the report states, rather than an intentional obstruction of justice.
The report notes that the state Highway Patrol has the authority to decide whether Macario and Morrison will continue to be employed and that Wake County will not prosecute cases that rely on their testimony.
Finally, it criticizes Raleigh PD’s handling of the investigation of the circumstances of the wreck.
Henrietta Mason, Tyrone Mason’s mother, had attempted to get information related to the circumstances of her son’s death for months, the report acknowledges.
“Mrs. Mason may have had her questions … answered earlier had a more thorough job of investigating the circumstances of the wreck been done,” the report states.
Last week, his mother filed a federal lawsuit against Macario. Her attorneys, including Raleigh lawyer Sean Cecil and the prominent civil rights attorney Bakari Sellers, argue that Macario conspired with Morrison to cover up the wreck and Macario violated Mason’s due process rights to life and bodily autonomy under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Henrietta Mason is seeking a jury trial and damages for personal losses as well as medical and funeral expenses in an amount to be determined by the court.
“Defendant Macario knew or should have known, and every reasonable officer in his position would have concluded, that the failure to render aid to Decedent Mason was cruel and unlawful,” the complaint states. “Defendant Macario’s clear failure to render aid was the cause in fact and proximate cause of Decedent Mason’s injuries and death.”
Send an email to Raleigh editor Jane Porter at [email protected].