After another train stabbing, Mecklenburg sheriff says ‘Iryna’s Law’ won’t help
Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden said Monday that a new state law named after stabbing victim Iryna Zarutska will put more strain on his jail staff.
McFadden criticized House Bill 307, called “Iryna’s Law.” He shared his critiques of the newly-enacted bill at a press conference just days after a second stabbing on Charlotte’s light rail.
Police charged DeCarlos Brown Jr. with stabbing Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska to death on the train earlier this year. Brown’s mother told The Charlotte Observer that he is schizophrenic and has long claimed that something, like a “chip” inside his body, is controlling his actions.
Zarutska’s death ignited a national conversation about public safety and mental health. It also drew President Donald Trump’s ire onto Charlotte as he called Brown a “monster” and criticized local officials.
Last week, police charged Oscar Solarzano, an undocumented immigrant who had been deported multiple times, with stabbing a man on the same light rail line.
“This law will cause our detention center’s numbers to rise,” McFadden said.
Among other things, the law created stricter bail rules for people charged with some violent crimes, and will require more people charged with serious crimes to undergo mental health evaluations.
The changes mean more people with mental health issues will be in the county jail, McFadden said.
“On top of all of that, House Bill 307 did not bring us any resources, and it did not bring us any funding,” he said.
Neither state House Speaker Destin Hall nor Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger, both Republicans, reached out to McFadden’s office, the Democratic sheriff said.
“I go to Raleigh, stand in the chambers, stand inside their doors and can’t meet,” he said.
Lauren Horsch, a spokesperson for Berger, said the state senator’s office could find no record of McFadden reaching out.
“Legislators and staff spoke with relevant statewide stakeholders while they were working on Iryna’s Law, including the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association,” Horsch wrote in an email. “The General Assembly does not control the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s budget. If Sheriff McFadden doesn’t believe he has the adequate funding to fight crime and hold criminals accountable, perhaps he should reevaluate his department’s priorities.”
Hall’s spokesperson, Demi Dowdy, said in an email that the new law is “keeping dangerous criminals off the streets.”
“If the sheriff doesn’t like that, he’s in the wrong job,” Dowdy said.
Maj. Robert Abee, who oversees arrest processing at the jail, said the part of “Iryna’s Law” dealing with mental health will not go into effect until a year from now. But when that happens, he said, it will be a “whole different nightmare” as officers will have to testify on suspects’ mental health when bringing them in for booking.
“We’re talking about significant delays in the process when that takes place,” he said.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published December 8, 2025 at 3:53 PM.