Crime issues are back in the spotlight, thanks in no small part to President Donald Trump taking action to federalize law enforcement in Washington, D.C., in August after a series of high-profile violent crimes in the nation’s capital.
Touting the successes of his D.C. crime crackdown, Trump has talked about the possibility of initiating similar crackdowns in other crime hotspots like Chicago and New York City, which, of course, has prompted pushback from Democratic leaders in those cities and their respective governors.
While the debate over the legality of such a move is ongoing, another blue city with crime issues of its own has made national headlines after a shocking video was released of a murder that took place last month on the Charlotte light rail system.
Twenty-three-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska boarded the light rail car on Aug. 22, shortly before 10 p.m. Zarutska, whose family says she had recently fled Ukraine to make a better life here, had just finished her shift at a local pizzeria and presumably was trying to head home.
She never made it.
Four and a half minutes after she got on the train, a man sitting directly behind her, identified as 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., pulled out a knife and stabbed her three times, killing her, in what police say was a random attack where the victim and suspect had no interactions.
The sheer randomness, brazenness and senselessness of the crime has rocked Charlotte ahead of the city council and mayoral elections slated for November.
The city’s mayor, Democrat Vi Lyles, who is up for reelection, did herself no favors with a soft-on-crime statement she issued four days after the murder, spending one whole sentence on the victim before spending several paragraphs talking about mental health and homelessness, and how the homeless shouldn’t be stigmatized.
“We will never arrest our way out (of) issues such homelessness and mental health,” she wrote. And for good measure, she added, “Also, those who are unhoused are more frequently the victim of crimes and not the perpetrators.”
A better and less tone-deaf statement would have included something about how a city cannot solve its crime problems if it keeps arresting and releasing violent repeat offenders like Brown, who was known to local law enforcement. He had 14 prior arrests including one over an alleged mental health episode where he called 911 to report a “man-made material” he said was inside his body and controlling him.
Thanks to the video’s release last Friday and because members of the Trump administration, including DOT Secretary Sean Duffy, are now weighing in on the case, national media outlets are finally paying attention. It has shined a harsh glare on a blue city in a reddish-purple state, one where Democratic leaders tend to spend more time focusing on so-called issues like equity and social justice, and far too little on crime.
“Charlotte’s Mayor doesn’t want the media to show you the ugly truth,” Duffy wrote in response to a tweet from Lyles. “Why? Because she and other public officials in her city bear responsibility.
“This monster had a track record longer than a CVS receipt, including prison time for robbery with a dangerous weapon, breaking and entering, and larceny. By failing to properly punish him, Charlotte failed Iryna Zarutska and North Carolinians.”
Considering the priorities of Democrat officials in this city, I’m not optimistic we’ll soon see any meaningful change come on the public safety front as a result of this tragic case. But one thing that is for sure is that Zarutska’s murder is on the radar of the Trump administration now, which means Democratic officials in N.C. won’t be able to sweep it under the rug anytime soon, if at all.
North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.
