Decarlos Brown Jr, the accused who stabbed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska to death on a train, has been described as a career criminal with no less than 14 arrests. Yet Brown Jr got the support of an immense fundraising campaign on GoFundMe that said Brown was the victim of a racist, broken judicial system. Amid massive outrage that called the attempts to save Brown horrific and sickening, GoFundMe later took down the fundraising page.
“While what happened on the Blue Line was a tragedy, what we mustn’t lose sight of is the fact that Decarlos Brown Jr was failed categorically by the judicial system and the mental health services of North Carolina, and as such is not entirely to blame for what happened,” one page claimed.
“Raising money to assist with legal fees for Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr. Anything helps fight against the racism and bias against our people. Thank you for giving us a hand to push against this corrupt narrative,” another fundraising page said.
GoFundMe reacts to outrage, says donors refunded, fundraisers taken down
GoFundMe said it removed the fundraising campaigns as they violated its policy. Everyone who contributed to the fundraiser has been refunded, they said. “GoFundMe’s Terms of Service explicitly prohibit fundraisers that raise money for the legal defense of anyone formally charged with an alleged violent crime,” GoFundMe said in a statement.
“Consistent with this long-standing policy, this fundraiser has been removed from the platform and the donors who contributed to the fundraiser have been fully refunded.”
34-year-old Brown, a homeless person, has been charged with first-degree murder after chilling footage showed he sat behind Zarutska, got up, stabbed her and walked out of the train. The incident took place on August 22 in North Carolina and sent shockwaves through the country.
Brown has 14 previous court cases in Mecklenburg wand was sentenced to six years in 2015 after convictions for robbery with a dangerous weapon, breaking and entering, and larceny. In July, his attorney filed a motion to have his client's competency evaluated in a case regarding alleged 911 misuse.
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