Marjorie Taylor Greene is Leading the Charge
The Inevitable Pardon of George Floyd’s Killers
I wrote about this in January, and the march toward a federal pardon for Derek Chauvin is moving forward, with Marjorie Taylor Greene leading the pack. Chauvin was convicted on both federal and state charges. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz indicated that if Chauvin is pardoned on the federal charges, he will be transferred from a cushy federal prison to a Minnesota state prison. Chauvin might want to be careful what he wishes for. On the other hand, a pardon on state charges will become a political issue in the next election for governor.
Donald Trump announced on January 22, 2025, that former MPD officers Andrew Zabavsky and Terence Sutton would receive full and unconditional pardons. Sutton was found guilty of second-degree murder, and both he and Zabavsky were found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction.
On Oct. 23, 2020, then-Lietuenant Zabavsky and Officer Sutton said they saw Karon Hylton-Brown operating an electric moped without a helmet on the sidewalk in the Brightwood Park area of Northwest D.C.
The officers attempted to make a traffic stop. Prosecutors say a pursuit began and continued on neighborhood streets for more than 10 blocks at “unreasonable speeds,” at one point going the wrong way up a one-way street. In the final moments of the pursuit, Sutton, who was driving, followed Hylton-Brown into a narrow alley off the 700 block of Kennedy Street, NW, turned off his car’s emergency lights and siren, and accelerated behind the moped. When he left the alley and turned onto Kennedy Street, Hylton-Brown was hit by an oncoming car. He suffered severe head trauma and died on Oct. 25, 2020. As Hylton-Brown lay dying in the street in a pool of his own blood, Sutton and Zabavsky agreed to cover up the incident.
The car that hit Hylton-Brown was allowed to leave the scene within 20 minutes of the crash. Sabasky and Sutton turned off their body-worn cameras, talked privately, and left. They never contacted MPD’s Major Crash Unit and never alerted the Internal Affairs Unit — per department protocol.
Sutton and Zabavsky went back to the police station. They continued the cover-up by misleading their commanding officer about the nature of the incident, denying that a police chase had even occurred and leaving out any mention of Hylton-Brown’s injuries. Zabavsky falsely implied that Hylton-Brown had been a drunk driver. Both men hid their direct involvement in the incident to avoid an investigation.
Sutton wrote a false police report saying there was no pursuit and that he and Zabavsky had lost sight of Hylton-Brown. He said they were wholly uninvolved with the fatal crash and described Hylton Brown’s injuries as “superficial abrasions on his left eyebrow line.”
A jury found that Sutton caused Hylton-Brown’s death by driving a police vehicle with a “conscious disregard for an extreme risk of death or serious bodily injury,” and the jury found that both Sutton and Zabavsky conspired to cover up their role in the deadly crash. Zabavsky and Sutton are white, and Karon Hylton-Brown was Black.
“Koran, he was just having fun on the scooter. They decided to chase him. Hit the back of the scooter, made him collided into oncoming traffic in the highway. There’s a no chase law in D.C. isn’t it?” — anonymous witness
As I read of these pardons, it became abundantly clear that Trump would soon pardon the killers of George Floyd because he can. The world saw Derek Chauvin keep his knee on George Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes; at one point, Floyd whispered, “I can’t breathe,” to no avail. Crowds begged Chauvin to get off his neck. Chauvin stayed in place with fellow officers Kueng and Lane aiding him. Chauvin was sentenced to over twenty years in prison, Kueng three and a half years, and Lane got two and one-half years. Kueng was released on parole, and Lane was released a year ago. Both still have criminal records unless they are pardoned.
Donald Trump was President in August 2020 when the George Floyd video was released. Millions of people around the world took to the streets in protest. President Trump issued over 700 tweets about the protests, initially expressing concern for George Floyd’s family and promising justice. As time passed, he focused on attacking Black Lives Matter and protesters. Trump offered to send the army to Minnesota, promising, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” When protesters came to the White House, Trump repeatedly inquired as to whether the Army or National Guard could shoot the protesters.
“Well, shoot them in the leg — or maybe the foot. But be hard on them!” — Donald Trump
I’m sure that Trump will pardon Chauvin and the others because it will tell his base that he is with them. Though most of the George Floyd protesters were white, they reflected all races. Trump’s message with these pardons will be to Black people, affirming that Black Lives Don’t Matter. The murder conviction for Chauvin is indeed a state crime, theoretically out of Trump’s reach. But he’s serving a concurrent federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights that can be pardoned.
I believe Trump will string out pardons throughout his presidency. Each one will send a message. His pardons of the two officers who killed a Black man and covered it up make it clear he isn’t concerned about the backlash. He may be hoping for new protests to test the limits of presidential power. Maybe this time, protesters will be shot?
Trump has already released the leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy because they are his people. The same can be said of his pardon of over 1,500 arrested for their roles in the January 6th, 2021, insurrection. Some of them assaulted Capitol Police officers and were actively seeking to kill Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi, and others.
I’m sure some people around Trump have urged him to proceed slowly with pardons, but he clearly isn’t listening to them. If there were a pool, I’d put money on Juneteenth to show his contempt for Black people. Then again, he probably can’t wait that long to see the public reaction he feeds on. We will see.
Note: I took most of these photos on a visit to The Free State of George Floyd in my hometown of Minneapolis.
May George Floyd rise again to unite us in protesting this obscenity in the White House. There have never been protests in the rural white town I grew up in like there were for George Floyd and BLM. They went on for weeks and weeks. We remember.
I will put my money on June 14 when the nation rains on Trump's parade. His mis-use of Juneteenth will be all the more stark when held against adequate repudiation in the streets. Old white people know we are privileged and we have been coming out. Solidarity, as we saw in Poland during their revolution.
Solidarność. Unite.