NC: City council wants to ‘restore confidence’ in CATS after 2nd train stabbing

harlotte City Council members want more support for police officers as they grapple with public safety concerns after another stabbing on the city’s Blue Line light rail.

The city previously committed to increased fare enforcement and the presence of security and police officers on public transit, but council members said during Monday night’s meeting that safety is more than the number of officers. Members suggested state legislators provide more funding for public safety supports and the city pay more attention to mental health services. They did not elaborate on how improving mental health services applied to the latest case.

City Council member comments came after Oscar Solarzano, a 33-year-old man, allegedly stabbed a man named Kenyon Dobie after the victim told him to stop yelling at other passengers. Solarzano had been drinking on board, according to court documents.

The stabbing occurred just a few months after Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was killed on the same Blue Line system — an incident that drew national attention. Federal officials, including President Donald Trump, also have taken note of Friday’s stabbing.

“We deserve better as Charlotte,” District 5 Councilman J.D. Mazuera Arias told The Charlotte Observer. “We need, as a city, to focus more diligently and provide urgent attention to the topic of public safety.”

How city council is responding

District 2 Councilman Malcolm Graham told The Observer he was frustrated and disappointed when he learned about the latest stabbing.

The city has rolled out a number of initiatives since Zarutska’s death in an effort to prevent a similar tragedy.

Council granted Professional Police Services, the private company contracted to patrol Charlotte Area Transit System property, increased jurisdiction to include the entire rail trail and areas adjacent to transit property. CATS purchased four utility terrain vehicles and four patrol bikes to aid security efforts, too.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department began deploying off-duty officers for 966 hours per week to assist the contracted security officers and announced CMPD officers would begin cracking down on more minor crimes as part of a new initiative focused on nightlife areas in Uptown.

“Despite our best efforts to ensure that folks are safe on the light rail, safe in Uptown, in their neighborhoods and communities, things continue to happen to good people,” Graham said. “Everybody is doing what they should do throughout the city to ensure laws are enforced.”

He expects the city will lean into, and in some cases double down on, the systems it has already created in recent months. Those are the best the city can do short of placing an officer on every street corner or on every light rail car, which is not feasible, he said.

He joined other council members, who spoke during Monday’s meeting, in expressing his support for CMPD and its new Police Chief Estella Patterson. Graham wants Patterson to ensure safety measures are enforced and fill officer vacancies, which she had previously done successfully as chief in Raleigh.

Mazuera Arias said he wants to provide CMPD officers with more resources, fill vacant officer positions and expand services for things like mental health. He also proposed splitting the council committee on housing, safety and community in two and devoting one committee exclusively to public safety, which would demonstrate council is serious about the issue.

District 1 Councilwoman Dante Anderson likewise called for a “crystalized plan for an intergovernmental approach” to public safety that emphasized mental health.

At-large Councilwoman LaWana Slack-Mayfield encouraged residents to join council in requesting support from the General Assembly. State legislators provide funding for the sheriff’s department and human services.

The General Assembly has not yet passed a budget to fund public safety resources, Slack-Mayfield added.

“Keep us in prayer. Keep us accountable. But understand that we need help,” Slack-Mayfield said.

City Council wants answers about light rail stabbing

Data shows violent crime and homicide rates are down this year, but Mazuera Arias said those numbers have done little to resolve perception issues. Residents do not feel safe in their city right now, and that is their reality, he said.

Some questions remain unanswered, and at-large Councilwoman Dimple Ajmera asked city staff to provide some clarity, which was not immediately offered during Monday’s City Council meeting,

A prosecutor revealed in court on Monday that the suspect, Solarzano, had previously been “officially banned” from using the train. Ajmera questioned how the man got onto the light rail, whether he paid for a ticket and if any officers were present at the time of the stabbing, which happened around rush hour.

The suspect in Zarutska’s stabbing did not purchase a ticket, nor was an officer on board at the time, CATS previously said.

“We have seen our ridership has gone down after Iryna Zarutska’s stabbing. There are people who do not feel safe,” Ajmera said at the meeting. “We need to do everything we can to restore confidence in our system.”

Ajmera said it is too premature to say whether the city’s recent safety measures have been effective. She wants to first see the proper data to make that determination, she said.

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