NC Gov Josh Stein faces brutal backlash after blaming understaffed police for Charlotte light rail murder

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA: North Carolina’s Democratic Governor Josh Stein finally broke his silence on the horrific and unprovoked murder of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. However, his timing and message did not win him much applause.

Zarutska was brutally stabbed to death last month on Charlotte’s light rail by 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr, a repeat offender with a lengthy rap sheet. After taking weeks to issue a comment, Stein appeared to use the tragedy to push his budget proposal and call for more police officers.

“I am heartbroken for the family of Iryna Zarutska, who lost their loved one to this senseless act of violence, and I am appalled by the footage of her murder,” Stein wrote on X. “We need more cops on the beat to keep people safe. That’s why my budget calls for more funding to hire more well-trained police officers. I call upon the legislature to pass my law enforcement recruitment and retention package to address vacancies in our state and local agencies so they can stop these horrific crimes and hold violent criminals accountable.”  

Josh Stein's focus on more police sparks backlash over soft-on-crime policies

Stein’s critics pointed out the elephant in the room. They argued the problem wasn’t the police but the fact that Decarlos Brown had been arrested repeatedly and then released back onto the streets.

“What on earth are you talking about, Governor? Decarlos Brown was arrested 14 times! The police did their job. It’s your job to sign into law bills that keep career criminals in jail!” one user posted on X.

“The police ALREADY HAD HIM ARRESTED. The problem is that Democrats kept releasing him. You are tone deaf, governor!” another fumed.

“…or you could just NOT let a repeat, 14x violent offender, with a schizophrenia diagnosis, out on cashless bail to murder people. How about that?” someone else snarked.

“This has nothing to do with the police. It has everything to do with radical judges refusing to apply the law. Focus on that, dumba**,” another comment read.

One user added, “Governor, your task force for racial equity in criminal justice specifically called for increasing pre-trial release. And decriminalizing ‘public behavior,’ meaning homelessness and being a public nuisance. Both of these policies contributed to Decarlos Brown being on the streets and having the opportunity to commit murder on the Charlotte light rail. Are you going to roll back these policies that your racial task force initiated that are making North Carolinians unsafe?”

Decarlos Brown Jr’s long, ugly rap sheet

Decarlos Brown wasn’t a one-time offender. Arrest records show brushes with the law dating back to 2007. Over the years, he racked up arrests for felony larceny, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and communicating threats, according to the Daily Mail.

But most of those charges were dropped. Reports suggest Brown may have been arrested and released at least a dozen times, if not more. In total, his record includes at least 14 arrests. Each time, he wound up back on the street—until last month, when he crossed paths with Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail car.

Surveillance video captured the tragedy. Without provocation, Brown stabbed Zarutska multiple times from behind her seat. She collapsed as horrified passengers sat frozen. Brown then wandered the car, blood dripping on the floor.

The outrage has now reached Washington, where Republican Rep Jeff Fine (FL) has introduced a bill to hold radical judges accountable for releasing repeat offenders back onto the streets, only for them to commit more heinous crimes.

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