The family of Iryna Zarutska is suing Charlotte and a security company one year after the Ukrainian refugee was fatally stabbed onboard a light rail train in the North Carolina city.
A lawsuit filed on Friday in Charlotte’s Mecklenburg county superior court alleges Zarutska’s death was preventable. It also claims the city and the company that provides security for the Charlotte Area Transit System failed to put adequate protections in place despite knowing about violent crime on and around the municipal light rail line.
Frank Scott Haskell, Zarutska’s uncle, filed the lawsuit, which alleges the defendants knew about safety and crime concerns involving Charlotte’s public transit system before the deadly attack.
The city and Professional Security Services “were responsible for protecting lawful passengers from known and foreseeable danger”, the lawsuit states, according to the Charlotte Observer. It adds: “Their failures caused the fatal stabbing.”
The lawsuit points to what it describes as inadequate fare enforcement and security staffing. It contends that simple measures such as fare enforcement, turnstiles or proper security staffing, which it says the city had the money for, could have prevented Zarutska’s death.
Her family is seeking monetary damages and says it hopes the legal action will lead to security changes across Charlotte’s light rail system.
The lawsuit came one year after Zarutska was killed while riding a light rail train home from work in Charlotte. Decarlos Brown Jr was charged in her death. In June, a judge ruled Brown incompetent to stand trial due to mental illness.
Zarutska had come to the US after living in a bomb shelter in Ukraine, according to relatives. She fled the war in hopes of finding safety in the US, and family members described her as determined to build a safer life.
Zarutska’s killing became a flashpoint in a broader public debate over violent crime, mental illness and public transit safety, including questions about whether cities such as Charlotte are doing enough to address those issues.
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The Trump administration and its Republican allies seized on the case, claiming the killing demonstrated how local leaders, judges and policies in Democratic-led cities were failing to protect residents from violent crime.
In September, North Carolina passed Iryna’s Law, which redefined certain violent offenses, imposed bail limits for people charged with violent offenses and ended cashless bond releases in certain circumstances.
