No One Helped Charlotte Stabbing Victim? Not True.
What happened: The fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte, North Carolina, light-rail train has spiraled into a national debate over crime, race, and justice. Adding fuel to the fire is a falsehood from prominent conservatives that no one tried to help her.
Context: On Aug. 22, Zarutska — who fled to the U.S. from the war in Ukraine in 2022, according to her obituary — was allegedly stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack aboard a Charlotte light-rail train by 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., according to authorities. Brown, who has a long criminal history and documented mental health issues, multiple media outlets reported, faces both state first-degree murder and federal charges. President Trump has called for the death penalty, referring to Brown as an “animal.”
- The case has ignited a debate over public safety and perceived justice system failures that allowed Brown to remain free despite numerous prior arrests and mental-health red flags.
A closer look: Amid this backdrop, some on the right blamed the other passengers on the train for allegedly failing to assist Zarutska after the attack. Several attempted to cast the lack of help as a racial issue, pointing to the fact that the passengers visible in widely shared security footage are Black, as is the suspect.
- Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X: “NO ONE HELPED HER!!! This poor woman was attacked and not a single person did anything to help her!!! The murder of Iryna Zerutska [sic] shows the courts failed and allowed this monster out of jail, but also the love of most had grown cold. What has happened to America???” The post garnered 804,900 views and 29,000 likes in one day.
- In a post with 13.5 million views and 69,000 likes, popular right-wing X account Libs of TikTok shared a 13-second clip of the attack’s aftermath and stated: “OMG Nobody even helped her as she sat there bleeding to death and sobbing.” A top comment on the video stated: “The reason no one helped is because it’s a train full of the same kind of animals. They’re incapable of empathy or compassion.”
- Newsmax host Todd Starnes said in an X post with 136,000 views and 8,800 likes: “Just watched the full video of the savage who attacked the woman on that train in Charlotte. Not a single person offered her assistance. Not a one. Not one single person.” In a top comment, user @PiratePatriot47 stated: “They were all black. Not exactly a ‘come to the aid of others’ group.”
Actually: It is true that a widely-shared 15-second video of the immediate aftermath of the attack shows Zarutska in a state of shock as four passengers remain in their seats and one bystander appears to walk away.
However, more complete 18-minute security footage of the attack shows that at least four people directly assisted Zarutska, beginning 1 minute and 34 seconds after she was stabbed. The 15-second video that was shared by multiple large conservative social media pages cut off before any bystanders assisted. All the various angles and clips of the attack appear to be security footage from the Charlotte Area Transit System.
- The more complete security film, which was publicly posted to X by the account @HeadlineUSA on Sept. 9 after being released to multiple local news outlets on Sept. 5 by the Charlotte Area Transit System, shows that 1 minute and 34 seconds after Zarutska was attacked and then slumped onto the floor in front of her seat partially out of view, a man ran up to her and appeared to apply pressure to her wounds, taking off his shirt to make a makeshift compress.
- Two minutes and seven seconds after the first man assisted, a young woman enters the frame who appears to help in applying pressure to Zarutska’s wounds. Shortly after, two more people are seen directly assisting the victim and a third is seen on the phone next to the victim.
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