Though the District marked more than 200 homicides in 2022, police chief Robert Contee encouraged community engagement and held out hope for a continued decrease in violent crime.
Two former Metropolitan Police officers were found guilty on all charges brought against them in connection with the death of Karon Hylton-Brown, who was involved in a fatal car crash during a police chase more than two years ago. Former officers Terence Sutton, 38, and Andrew Zabavsky, 54, had been suspended from the police department due to suspicious circumstances surrounding Hylton-Brown's death that sparked public unrest and led to a criminal trial. Hylton-Brown, a 20-year-old Black man, was pursued by D.C. police while driving a moped on a sidewalk in the city's Brightwood Park neighborhood on Oct. 23, 2020. Authorities have said the attempted traffic stop was prompted by Hylton-Brown's lack of a helmet, although Sutton and Zabavsky were also found guilty of conspiring to hide the true circumstances of the chase and traffic collision that caused the young man's death. Sutton continued to chase Hylton-Brown for more than 10 blocks through neighborhood streets