Story by Mackenzie Thomas
Photos by Jinrui Liu
Naya Clark has been riding the light rail since freshman year.
Twice a day, every day from Monday to Thursday, she said she takes the Blue Line from 25th Street Station to school at UNC-Charlotte. Now a junior, she’s been doing this for the past two years.
She knows that public transit, or really anywhere, can be dangerous for a woman, she said. It’s a fear she’s dealt with, wrestled with, but one that didn’t become real for her until August, when Charlotte resident Iryna Zarutska was murdered on the Blue Line.
“It kind of confirmed what could happen to me, and it bothered me for a few days,” Clark said. “It made me feel sad, and I was kind of scared taking the light rail because I have to, I don’t have a car, so I really had no choice.”
Zarutska was murdered Aug. 22 on the Blue Line in Charlotte. The suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., was reportedly suffering from delusions stemming from schizophrenia. Prior to his arrest in August, he had been arrested at least a dozen times for offenses ranging from misusing 911 to armed robbery, according to court records.
Signs of mental illness were present in a previous arrest in January and a forensic mental evaluation was ordered in July, according to court records. Brown’s next scheduled appearance in court for the alleged murder is for an administrative hearing April 30, 2026, according to court records.
Now, just over three months since the murder, Clark said she is more alert to her surroundings and is more proactively taking steps to ensure her safety — and she’s noticed other passengers doing the same.
“I try to get as close to the wall as I can, or if I can, I can sit in the very last one where there’s a wall behind me,” Clark said. “But if I do have to sit and the chairs are turned around, I try to angle my body. I’ve seen a lot of women doing that, sitting sideways.”
As security has been enhanced in the wake of Zarutska’s murder, and as parts of the new law named after her took effect Dec. 1, there has been ongoing discussion to address the question: How could this tragedy have been prevented?
How security has improved
The Charlotte Area Transit System announced new safety measures Oct. 3 for the light rail. Professional Security Services, the third-party service tasked with light rail security, is now fully staffed along the Blue Line and supported by 24 off-duty officers from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, according to the CATS website.
Charlotte local Rob Drinkwater said he notices the increase in police presence while biking up and down a trail alongside the light rail.
“Definitely noticeable police presence that historically was not there, and that’s just been pretty much a mainstay since she was murdered,” Drinkwater said.
Police have been more present since the murder, but the fact that the light rail isn’t all connected and is instead split into multiple cars can make enforcement on the train tricky, Clark said.
“The police or the security are on one car, but there’s six cars in the whole train, and you can’t, obviously, if you’re riding, if it’s moving, you can’t move,” Clark said.
Along with the increased security presence, CATS rolled out new bike and utility terrain vehicle patrols that will allow for more coverage and improved response time. Brent Cagle, interim chief executive officer for CATS, said he believes these additions will improve overall security.
“The addition of bike and UTV patrols is a critical step in our mission to increase safety and reliability in our transit system,” Cagle said in a press release announcing the changes. “We believe these patrols will not only increase visibility, but also foster a greater sense of security for our riders.”
Fare enforcement on the light rail historically has not been very strict, Drinkwater said.
“There’s just a ticketing kiosk. You buy a ticket, and then you can be on the platform without the ticket though. Train pulls up, doors open, just hop on. But if you haven’t purchased a ticket, you can still hop on,” Drinkwater said. “I think that’s more of an issue, is that you have some people that are just hopping on, just using the light rail. There’s not really a lot of gatekeeping on who can get on and get off.”
That started to change after Zarutska’s murder, Clark said. “They started checking them more since she was killed, but before, security would literally just come on and look around and not do anything,” she said.
In addition to increased checks, a fare inspection team will be established in 2026 to carry out proof-of-payment checks, according to the CATS website.
Clark said she feels a little better since enforcement has improved, but the setup of the train and fare systems themselves makes feeling safe difficult for her.
“It’s not like the subway, where you have to scan it and then you go through those gates,” Clark said. “If you’re on the station, and obviously there’s no security right there, you can just get on, no problem.”
A plan is underway to create a new transportation authority, said Ed Driggs, a Charlotte City Council member and chair of the council’s Transportation, Planning and Development Committee.
“It will have its own police force, its own on-staff police force. I think that will be helpful in terms of improving security on the system,” Driggs said.
House Bill 948, also known as the P.A.V.E. Act, was signed by Gov. Josh Stein on July 1 and includes provisions that will help fund the new Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority, which will eventually acquire CATS assets and oversee public transportation for the region. State law requires the new authority to be established by Jan. 1, and board members are currently being appointed.
What more can be done: public safety
Driggs said a lot of the issues with public safety stem from state laws that allow offenders to be released again and again.
“In my mind, a lot of the difficulty we have with public safety relates to the capacity of the District Attorney’s Office, the courts, the magistrates, and various laws that allow offenders to be out again, over and over again,” Driggs said.
Though overall crime from January to September 2025 is down compared to that timeframe last year, crime statistics are being inflated by repeat offenders, according to CMPD’s third quarter crime report. More than 60% of violent criminal arrests for 2025 involved individuals with a prior arrest, according to data provided in the report.
“We continue to see a troubling pattern: a disproportionate number of violent incidents and property crimes are being committed by individuals with extensive criminal histories—many of whom continue to cycle through the justice system without facing meaningful consequences,” said Todd Martin, a sergeant from the Southeast Service Area Crime Reduction Unit. “The cycle of catch and release does not reduce crime in our community.”
Driggs also believes more measures “in the same direction” as Iryna’s Law should be implemented.
“They created 10 new district attorneys and five new staff members and they toughened up some of the requirements for magistrates. There was a cash bail provision,” Driggs said. “I think it was a good thing that they did. But I think in order to really move the needle, we probably have to do more of the same.”
What more can be done: mental health
Driggs said he believes mental health should also be better addressed, but there aren’t any easy answers.
The lack of accessible support early on is a problem, said Kate Weaver, executive director of Charlotte’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
“Most people only enter the mental health system when symptoms have escalated into crisis, not because they didn’t want help, but because they didn’t know where to start or had difficulty navigating resources,” Weaver said.
Evan Ashkin, M.D., a professor of family medicine at the UNC School of Medicine and founder of the North Carolina Formerly Incarcerated Transition program, said another obstacle is some people refuse to take their medications because their psychosis is so severe.
“A lot of folks, sadly, who have psychotic disorders have paranoia along with that and very low trust levels,” Ashkin said. “So oftentimes there’s a perception that the medicines are harming them or there to control them. But once you get people on the right, stable medication treatment, they often feel better, have less paranoia, less psychosis, but you then have to continue working with people so they stay on the meds.”
The lack of space in psychiatric facilities doesn’t help, as North Carolina ranks 36th in the United States for available psychiatric beds per capita, according to KFF, a health policy organization.
Weaver said “front-end supports” should be strengthened, including help when navigating available mental health resources, peer support, consistent follow-up, and more.
“The more we normalize mental health conversations, improve access to care, and remove barriers like insurance, transportation and language, the more we allow people to get help long before symptoms become dangerous,” Weaver said.
Having family support can be helpful, but not always feasible, Ashkin said.
“Family is very important, but they can only do so much,” Ashkin said. “Very few families have the kind of resources where they can dedicate someone to basically play that role of community support, because people have their own lives and jobs and so on. So very important, but we cannot rely on families to be able to close this gap.”
Since families often see the warning signs of mental illness first, Weaver said they should be given more tools and resources to navigate helping a loved one who is struggling with it.
“Giving families more tools, crisis planning resources, and realistic options for help before a situation escalates is crucial,” Weaver said. “The answer is not simply forcing treatment. It is creating a system where seeking help early is easy, safe, and actually leads to meaningful support.”
The bottom line is that it will take improved investment in community mental health before any real changes are seen, Ashkin said.
“If we want to substantially improve the chances of someone like Brown getting treatment before some tragic thing happens, we have to invest. We have to invest in community mental health,” Ashkin said.
One way this is possible is through forensic assertive community treatment (ACT) teams, which can meet people who are struggling with mental illness where they are, Ashkin said.
ACT teams are community-based groups of medical professionals that work together to support those struggling with severe mental illness, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
Forensic ACT teams differ from standard ACT teams by focusing on populations involved in the criminal justice system. The goal of these teams is to address mental health issues while also working to reduce the risk of individuals reoffending, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
“These are very high-risk folks who are often struggling mightily to put their lives back together, because you can’t just give someone an appointment if they’re unsheltered, unhoused, what do you do with your meds?” Ashkin said.
Ashkin said that while he doesn’t know exactly what Brown’s issues were, access to a team like this could potentially have made a difference for him.
“It is not unreasonable to assume that this tragedy would not have occurred, that if he had had that kind of support, people who could locate him when he went missing, could work with the family,” Ashkin said.
“It’s truly tragic,” Ashkin said. “This was almost certainly preventable.”
