Urban Public Safety

Chicago prosecutors say 40-year-old Demetrius Thurman has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly recording himself fatally stabbing 37-year-old Dominique Pollion, who was asleep on a CTA Blue Line train early Saturday. Court records indicate Pollion had been sleeping in the car for nearly an hour and had no interaction with Thurman before the suspect allegedly approached from behind at about 2:17 a.m., began recording on his phone, and stabbed him twice with a knife, prompting the victim to wake screaming and collapse after trying to flee. Investigators say CTA surveillance cameras and Thurman’s own phone captured the attack and its aftermath, including video of Thurman’s face and a clip where he allegedly turned the camera on himself at Clark/Lake station and said, “somebody got his ass,” before leaving. Police used images from transit video with Illinois’ facial-recognition system, a prior police encounter days earlier, and a relative’s identification to track him down; when arrested Sunday, he was allegedly wearing the same clothes and carrying a phone with the stabbing video and photos of other sleeping passengers. Prosecutors say Thurman has a prior record including disorderly conduct and DUI, and the case comes as violent incidents on Chicago trains are already drawing federal scrutiny after a separate November attack in which a woman was set on fire on a CTA train.