Rapper DaBaby’s music video reenacts Charlotte light rail stabbing footage
Charlotte-based rapper DaBaby has released a music video that reenacts footage released after the deadly Charlotte light rail stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska.
The “Save Me” music video released on Youtube Tuesday afternoon begins with actual footage of the stabbing released by Charlotte Area Transit System in early September. It also included a news reporter’s voice describing the video.
The music video shows two actors playing the roles of 23-year-old Zarutska and DeCarlos Brown Jr., the 34-year-old homeless man charged in her death.
DaBaby sits in a seat across from the actors on the Charlotte Lynx Blue Line. The actress playing Zarutska wears a pizza restaurant uniform and hat similar to the one Zarutska wore the night she died in the Aug. 22 stabbing. The actor playing Brown wears a red hooded sweatshirt and brandishes a pocket knife similar to the one police say Brown used to fatally stab Zarutska.
At the end of the music video, as the actor playing Brown lifts the knife and brings it closer to the actress playing Zarutska, DaBaby stops the knife mid-air.
Zarutska’s family, through a lawyer, last week asked that the public “show restraint and compassion by avoiding further spread of graphic footage.”
By 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, the music video had 50,000 views on YouTube. DaBaby linked to Zarutska’s GoFundMe in the video description, which reads: “A Dedication to Iryna Zarutska.”
