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A man accused of fatally stabbing another passenger on a Chicago train over the weekend allegedly recorded the attack and its aftermath on his cell phone, according to prosecutors.
FOX 32 Chicago reported that Demetrius Thurman, 40, is charged with stabbing to death Dominique Pollion, 37, who was sleeping on the Blue Line train early Saturday morning during the attack.
Court records reviewed by the station show that Pollion slept in the train car for about an hour without communicating with Thurman, and prosecutors say the men did not know each other.
Thurman allegedly approached Pollion from behind around 2:17 a.m., began recording on his phone, and stabbed him once in the chest near his heart and in the stomach with a bright orange-handled knife, court documents show.
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Prosecutors allege that Demetrius Thurman recorded the fatal Chicago subway stabbing and its aftermath on his phone, and the CTA video helped identify him as a suspect. (Cook County Sheriff’s Office)
Pollion woke up screaming and tried to back out of the train car aisle before collapsing, prosecutors said. Thurman then changed trains.
Pollion was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died.
CTA surveillance video captured the attack and its aftermath, prosecutors said, as did video recorded on Thurman’s phone.
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A security officer talks to a passenger on a Blue Line train at the CTA Forest Park station in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Shortly after the stabbing, court documents say, Thurman pointed the phone at him, and videotaped his face.
When the train arrived at the Clark/Lake station a short time later, the passenger told security officials on the platform. While outside the train car, Thurman allegedly turned to the camera again and said, “somebody got an ass,” before leaving the station.
Investigators collected images from surveillance video that prosecutors say show Thurman’s face and sent them to an Illinois facial recognition program, which led to his identification.
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Investigators suspect a Chicago man recorded the deadly Blue Line train stabbing and its aftermath on his phone, and CTA video helped identify the suspect. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The police later issued a report, and a Chicago police officer who had met Thurman a few days earlier saw him. The officer said Thurman was sleeping on the Blue Line train at the time and gave him his driver’s license when they met.
Thurman was arrested on Sunday. Court documents say he was wearing the same clothes as seen on surveillance video and was carrying a cell phone that contained recordings of the stabbing incident, as well as photos of other passengers sleeping on the train.
Prosecutors say Thurman’s cousin also identified himself as the one seen on the surveillance video, and they suspect that Thurman admitted to stabbing Pollion. He was charged with murder.
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FOX 32 reported that Thurman’s criminal past includes disorderly conduct, a DUI and a 2023 traffic arrest. His next court date is scheduled for January 20.
Crime at the CTA drew federal scrutiny after a November incident in which a man set fire to a woman on a downtown train.
On Dec. 19, federal transportation officials ordered the agency to submit a robust safety plan within 90 days or risk losing a quarter of its federal operating funds.
