‘Devastating’: Sister of man paralyzed in CATS attack wants justice, more safety
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Charlotte light rail train stabbing
A 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska, was fatally stabbed on Aug. 22 on the light rail line in Charlotte’s South End. 34-year-old DeCarlos Brown Jr., who has a reported history of mental health issues, is charged in the killing. Zarutska’s death has received national attention, with public comments from President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Charlotte officials.
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Angelia “Angie” Adams of rural Chester County in South Carolina has seen and heard days of news coverage about the August stabbing death of a Ukrainian woman. She has watched with empathy for the family of the dead woman and wondered what will be done to keep the public safe.
She shares the pain.
It is not the news of others. It is her life. Because her brother is paralyzed after an attack on a Charlotte Area Transit System bus in March.
Her brother can’t walk. He can’t feed himself. He can’t change the channel on the TV or work a cellphone. For weeks he couldn’t even breathe without a machine to keep him alive.
Adams’ brother, James Mark Godfrey, 64, suffered a broken neck and spinal injury in the March 6 attack on the CATS bus, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department affidavit that is part of court records. Pushing age 65, her brother now has to depend on others to eat, sleep, survive.
“They have got to do something about safety,” Adams said in a phone interview about CATS, which runs the light rail and bus system in Charlotte. “It is devastating.”
Adams said she has even more concerns about overall CATS safety after learning of the assault of a 57-year-old veteran on a CATS bus on Aug. 12, then the fatal stabbing on Aug. 22. All three attacks were caught on CATS video.
“You couldn’t pay me enough to get on a CATS bus,” Adams said.
The person charged in the light rail attack Aug. 22 had a criminal record and reported mental health concerns, and had been released without bail after an arrest for a misdemeanor earlier in the year.
In her brother’s case, emergency officials were not called to help her brother on March 6 until the bus dropped off the suspect at a men’s shelter and the bus returned to the downtown transit center, according to Adams and the CMPD police affidavit.
She posted on Facebook this week: “SOMETHING HAS GOT TO CHANGE WITH THE CATS BUS & LIGHT RAIL. Now that someone has DIED FBI has stepped up while my Brothers attacker is wearing an ankle monitor Homeless in Charlotte with ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGES. THE COURT SYSTEMS FAILED YET AGAIN!”
Adams said she is appalled that the young woman died so soon after her brother and another man were attacked on CATS rides.
“What’s it going to take?” Adams said. “The justice system has failed again.”
The March 6 attack
Godfrey, a Navy veteran who his sister said was homeless at the time, was hurt when another passenger on the bus hit him several times. CATS video surveillance footage shows Godfrey appears to talk to the suspect, then argue with him and point at him before attempting to grab a bookbag next to the suspect, the police affidavit said.
The document states the suspect hit Godfrey in the head and face with his knee, knocking Godfrey to the ground unconscious.
“He continues kicking and stomping on the victim as he lays on the ground,” the affidavit states. “The suspect uses his feet to stomp on the victim’s body additional times, while the victim remains on the ground motionless.”
Adams said her brother required emergency surgery and a ventilator, and was hospitalized for months until recently being sent to a nursing facility. He cannot walk or use his hands and likely will be disabled for the rest of his life, his sister said. He had a fractured nose and three broken ribs and head injuries, she said.
The police document states officers obtained video from the incident. The bus then “continues traveling it’s normal route” to North Tryon Street where the suspect is seen getting off the bus on the video, police said.
The address where the suspect got off is the same as a men’s shelter on Tryon Street, police said.
“After the suspect got off the bus, the bus driver continued her route to the CATS transit center and requested MEDIC after realizing that passenger on the bus was injured,” the police affidavit states. “MEDIC responded and transported the victim to Novant Main. Detectives spoke with the medical staff at Atrium. They advised that the victim had (a) broken neck and had suffered severe spinal injury.”
Adams said there are cameras on the bus for the driver to see what is happening. She remains upset that the bus driver drove to the transit center in uptown Charlotte before emergency officials were notified.
Suspect arrested at Charlotte shelter
CMPD detectives went to the men’s shelter and identified suspect Moses Early, 29, according to the police document submitted to the court. Police arrested Early four days later on a charge of attempted murder. Early’s case of attempted murder and assault remains pending, court records show.
He has been released on an unsecured $200,000 bond with GPS ankle monitor pending trial, court records show.
Early’s address on police and court documents is listed as the same North Tryon Street address as the men’s shelter. Adams said Charlotte prosecutors advised her of the defendant’s release, yet she has safety concerns for the public over a man charged with such a serious crime being free with only an ankle monitor to show his whereabouts.
McClatchy reached out to CATS about all three incidents — the March 6 Godfrey attack, the Aug. 12 bus assault, and the Aug. 22 fatal stabbing on the light rail.
In an emailed statement, CATS said, “We do want to make clear that these incidents are not connected, but overall safety is always our top priority.”
“As for safety on buses, we do have safety and security officers on bus routes,” CATS said. “While we can’t discuss specific details, we can share routes with security on board are based off operator request and data gathered.”
The organization discussed current and future safety measures publicly at a Metropolitan Transit Commission meeting on Sept. 3.
What happens now?
Adams started a GoFundMe page after her brother was hurt to help with expenses related to caring for her brother. The drive from her home in South Carolina to the Charlotte hospital was almost 100 miles round trip. She had to buy the basics her brother needed to try and learn to live without independence.
She said she has hired a North Carolina law firm to look at what happened to her brother and hold those responsible accountable.
She is aware that public officials in both Carolinas all the way up to President Donald Trump have questioned CATS safety and the judicial system in Charlotte after the fatal stabbing. She hopes the White House and other political leaders will look at her brother’s case as well.
“I do hope the president hears about it,” Adams said.
Adams said she’s done her part by giving media interviews to keep her brother’s situation in the public eye. Charlotte area media reported the March 6 incident in the weeks after it happened. The Charlotte Observer published a story on the attack in March and TV stations including WSOC-TV interviewed Adams after the crime.
She also hopes one day to meet the family of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, the Ukranian woman who was stabbed to death, so she can support them any way she can.
She knows the powerlessness of the victim’s family when violence drops like an anvil and flattens everybody who loves the victim.
“We want justice for my brother,” Adams said. “He didn’t deserve that. No one does.”
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