(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The family of Iryna Zarutska, the Ukrainian refugee who was stabbed to death on a Charlotte train last year, is reportedly planning to file a lawsuit over the matter.
“The attorney representing the family and estate of Iryna Zarutska is expected to soon file a civil lawsuit in connection with Zarutska’s death,” WBTV in Charlotte reported Wednesday.
Attorney Lauren Newton told the outlet the lawsuit will come around the one-year anniversary of Zarutska’s killing, which is on Saturday. A lawsuit had yet to be filed as of the writing of this article. It’s unclear what parties the lawsuit will target. A state auditor found earlier this month that the Charlotte Area Transit System should install turnstiles or gates at every light rail station to improve security.
Zarutska’s August 22, 2025, death shocked and horrified much of the country when the full video was finally released by this outlet on Sept. 9. The footage showed a homeless man, DeCarlos Brown, stabbing Zarutska in the neck before sauntering off—leaving her to blead out and die within seconds.
Brown was arrested shortly later and taken to the hospital with cuts on his own hand. He was charged with murder. He’s since been deemed “incapable of proceeding” in the federal and state cases against him. The determination for Brown does not mean he’s being let out of custody. However, it may spare him from the death penalty.
Now, Brown is undergoing medical treatment in a federal facility to restore his competency, according to the Justice Department.
The DOJ has said Brown’s prognosis to become competent to proceed is “good.” But even if he can’t be restored to competency, he still wouldn’t be released. He’d be subject to civil commitment proceedings.
Brown was found incompetent to proceed because he has a mental illness. “He experiences delusions that center around his belief that he was exposed to a Material and it ‘control[s] his every movement,’” his attorneys said in a Thursday filing. “He refers to it as his Body Emergency. The delusions are constant and persistent.”
Brown also reportedly told his sister that he believes a government put a chip in his body that caused him to stab Zarutska.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
