The family of Iryna Zarutska is suing the city of Charlotte and a security company, one year after she was fatally stabbed on a light rail train in North Carolina. The lawsuit, filed on Friday in Charlotte’s Mecklenburg county superior court, alleges that Zarutska’s death was preventable.
The legal action claims that Charlotte and Professional Security Services, the company providing security for the Charlotte Area Transit System, failed to put adequate protections in place. This was despite allegedly knowing about violent crime on and around the municipal light rail line.
Frank Scott Haskell, Zarutska’s uncle, filed the lawsuit. It contends that the defendants were responsible for protecting passengers from known and foreseeable danger, and that their failures caused the fatal stabbing. The lawsuit points to inadequate fare enforcement and security staffing, suggesting that measures such as turnstiles or proper security staffing could have prevented the death.
The family is seeking monetary damages and hopes the lawsuit will lead to security changes across Charlotte’s light rail system. Decarlos Brown Jr was charged in Zarutska's death, but a judge ruled him incompetent to stand trial in June due to mental illness.