Overview
- The Zarutska estate filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, naming the City of Charlotte and Professional Police Services Inc. (PSS) over the Aug. 22, 2025 killing on the LYNX Blue Line.
- The suit says no security guard was on the train when Iryna Zarutska was stabbed and accuses PSS of failing to staff and deploy the armed and unarmed personnel required under its contract.
- The complaint cites contract figures that funded 219 security positions for 2025–26 but says PSS had hired 183 people and had only 11 armed guards at the time, compared with up to 39 armed positions allowed.
- The filing points to a state audit that found no gates or turnstiles on the system and a drop in fare-evasion citations from 4,763 in 2023 to 2,018 in 2025, arguing weak fare enforcement let the accused board without paying; records show the suspect had 14 prior arrests.
- The civil case seeks compensatory damages from both defendants and punitive damages only against PSS, the city declined to comment on active litigation and PSS had not responded to requests for comment.