Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George says the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is taking too long to decide whether to charge police officers involved in the death of Karon Hylton-Brown last fall.

The councilmember and about a dozen community members held a press conference outside the office near Judiciary Square on Wednesday.

George said the community has been waiting 285 days since the incident and the USAO’s delay is “unnecessary and inexcusable.”

“What’s unusual about this case, having worked in the criminal justice system, is that when we look at doing investigations, usually we’re waiting for evidence to be able to charge a case,” said the councilmember, who previously worked in Attorney General Karl Racine’s office. “All the evidence is already there. She pointed out that MPD released body-worn camera footage about a week after the incident. “So the question is, why is this investigation taking so long when evidence is already there?”

She said she had sent three letters to acting U.S. Attorney for D.C. Channing Phillips and Matthew Graves, who has been nominated for the position, but not yet confirmed, and was told only that the investigation is ongoing. She called on U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and President Joe Biden to make sure the case gets dealt with immediately.

Hylton-Brown, 20, died last October from injuries he sustained during a police chase. His friends told DCist/WAMU that he was riding a Revel scooter to try and find his keys on the ground when an officer, later identified as Terence Sutton, began chasing him in his patrol car. Hylton-Brown exited an alley in the 700 block of Kennedy Street NW and collided with an oncoming car as he was being pursued.

MPD policy forbids officers from chasing anyone in a patrol car unless they are the suspect in a felony, they pose “immediate threat of death and serious bodily harm,” and police have exhausted other options. (George introduced a bill this past spring that would turn this rule into official law.)

After Hylton-Brown’s death, MPD said that officers pursued him because he was not wearing a helmet, which is legally required for mopeds. Then-D.C. police chief Peter Newsham placed four of the involved officers on paid administrative leave and promised a “thorough and proper investigation” to determine whether there was wrongdoing on the part of the police. Newsham said the U.S. Attorney’s Office would conduct a review before handing the matter back to MPD for an administrative investigation. 

The USAO launched an investigation nine months ago, but it hasn’t issued a decision on whether to pursue criminal charges against the officers involved. In 2016, a D.C. Auditor’s report that analyzed data from 2008-2015 found that the average time it takes the USAO to decide in an “officer-involved fatal shooting case” is 599 days, which the report characterized as representing “significant delays.”

They declined to comment on the length of the investigation and instead sent a statement on Wednesday: “The investigation into Karon Hylton-Brown’s tragic death is ongoing, but as with any pending matter, it would be improper to comment any further at this time. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to thoroughly investigating police-involved deaths.”

George pointed out that the USAO made a decision on the MPD shooting of Deon Kay within two and a half months.

“D.C. law prevents MPD and the Office of Police Complaints from investigating, disciplining, or terminating officers who violated MPD policies until the US Attorney’s Office declines in writing to prosecute the officers,” George wrote in a statement this week. “As a result, the officers involved in Karon’s death have been on paid leave for the past nine months and with no end in sight.”

George said that if the USAO doesn’t make a decision by the council’s next legislative meeting on October 5, she would introduce an emergency bill to allow MPD disciplinary investigations in cases of police misconduct to proceed even before the USAO issues a decision.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” she said. “And our community is done waiting. Accountability is essential. It is not optional. And we’re going to do everything we can to get justice for Karon Hylton-Brown so that our community can heal.”

She said the unreasonable delay is a “cloud over the community’s head” and is causing harm and grief for the family of Hylton-Brown.

His death led to a fresh wave of demonstrations against police brutality last fall. Hylton-Brown’s parents and friends, as well as hundreds of other residents, protested for several nights outside MPD’s Fourth District Station in Northwest D.C., where they demanded accountability for the officers involved. His father was among those arrested.

“I want justice for Karon. I want the officers charged, I want the whole police station to be reorganized, I want the mayor to stand up and show the city why she was hired,” Karon’s mother, Karen Hylton, said back in October.

Previously: 

Karon Hylton-Brown’s Loved Ones Remember His Exuberant Spirit And Dreams For Fatherhood

D.C. Police Release Body Camera Footage Following Karon Hylton-Brown Death

Karon Hylton-Brown Vigil Turns Into Second Night Of Protests Outside Fourth District Police Station