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Decarlos Brown Jr tells police his body is being controlled by a manmade substance in interaction which ended with arrest for misuse of 911 system
Harry CockburnThursday 27 November 2025 16:19 GMT
ClosePolice bodycam shows murder suspect telling police a man-made substance is controlling his body
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Newly released police bodycam footage shows Charlotte light rail murder suspect Decarlos Brown Jr. telling officers that a “man‑made material” was controlling his body – months before the fatal attack on a Ukrainian refugee.
The Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Police Department said the video was taken during a welfare check in January this year, after Brown himself called 911 to claim that a foreign substance had been implanted in him and was manipulating his actions.
In the video Brown, 34, is seen speaking to police officers who ask him, “what’s going on?”
“My body got exposed to a material,” he responds. “I need you guys to investigate into … what my body got exposed to. I’ve been going through this for three years now. You guys need to investigate the name of the material to fix my emergency.”
“One of the special things about this material is it communicates with you, clearly,” he tells the police. “Somebody’s playing with my body”.
open image in galleryDecarlos Brown jr points at a police officer during a welfare check in January, seven months prior to the murder of Iryna Zarutska (Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office)After a protracted interaction with officers in which he repeats that he’s been exposed to a material, and tries to hand them a piece of paper which he says describes the situation, he is seen to become frustrated that the police are unable to help him.
Brown maintains that the material he says he was exposed to was given to him without his “permission or authorization”, but he is unable to expand on how, beyond saying “a crime was committed”.
The encounter, which lasted around 30 minutes, ended when Brown tried to call 911 to ask for more police to assist him, and the officers on the scene arrested him for misuse of the 911 system.
The incident came roughly seven months before Brown allegedly killed Iryna Zarutska on a train in August this year.
open image in galleryIryna Zarutska had come to the U.S. for a new beginning (Iryna Zarutska)Zarutska, 23, had only recently arrived in the U.S. seeking safety and “new beginnings” after fleeing her war-torn home.
The Charlotte Area Transit System released footage of the violent stabbing, which took place on the Lynx Blue Line just after 9:45 p.m. on August 22.
Wearing her pizzeria job uniform, Zarutska was seen using her phone as she sat in front of a man in a red hoodie.
After the train had travelled for four-and-a-half minutes, the man in the hoodie is seen taking a knife from his pocket and striking Zarutska three times.
She was pronounced dead at the scene. The suspect was seen getting off at the next stop and was later arrested.
open image in galleryBrown has been indicted on federal charges (Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office)The incident sparked renewed debate about public safety and crime across the U.S., with Brown’s criminal record and concerns about his mental health raising questions about how and why he was released from prison.
Brown, who has schizophrenia, had previously been arrested 14 times, with convictions for theft, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and communicating threats, leading to a six-year prison sentence in 2015 for incidents dating to 2013 and 2014. He was released in 2020.
In October, Brown was indicted on federal charges over Zarutska’s killing and could face the death penalty if convicted.
