<p>The Chicago Transit Authority failed to keep a man safe when he was fatally stabbed on a Blue Line train earlier this year, a new lawsuit alleges. </p><p>Dominique Pollion, 37, had fallen asleep on the train early in the morning Jan. 10. Around 2:15 a.m., a man entered the train — holding a knife and recording with his phone — and stabbed him in his chest and abdomen. Pollion awoke, screamed and tried to escape his attacker, but he collapsed on the floor of the train car, according to security footage referenced in the complaint. Pollion was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead. </p><p>A lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County court on behalf of Pollion's grandmother alleges the CTA and its private security officers failed to respond until the train arrived at the Clark and Lake station. And as first responders tried to revive Pollion, the security guards stood by as his attacker stuck around and continued recording Pollion, according to the suit. He then was able to leave the scene without being detained. </p><p>After the incident, Chicago police used security footage to identify Pollion's alleged attacker, 40-year-old Demetrius Thurman, who was arrested two days later and charged with first-degree murder. Detectives found a video on Thurman's phone of the fatal stabbing and other photos of sleeping CTA passengers, according to the lawsuit. He remains in jail until trial.</p><p>"Dominique Pollion never should have been alone with that man on the train in the first place," Michael Cerasa, the lawyer with Romanucci & Blandin representing Pollion's grandmother, said during a Tuesday news conference. "This case is … about a system of oversight and protection that failed Dominique Pollion at every single point where it had a chance to save his life." </p><p>The suit also names Thurman and two of the CTA's private security contractors, Monterrey Security and Action K-9 Security. The CTA abruptly <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/transportation/2026/04/20/cta-private-security-guard-contract" target="_blank" >ended its multimillion dollar contract</a> with Monterrey in April. Last year, Action K-9 was awarded an $89 million, two-year contract. </p><p>A representative for Monterrey Security declined to comment because the company has not been formally served the complaint. However, its records show that the company did not have guards patrolling the Blue Line or the Clark and Lake station when Pollion was killed.</p><p>A CTA spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation. A representative for Action K-9 Security did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p>Pollion's grandmother, Shirley Pollion-Hines, spoke Tuesday about her grandson's compassion and the dreams he had to improve his and his family's life.</p><p>"It would be easy for Dominique's life to be just reduced to a statistic, or simply a horrible tragedy and a waste," she said. "But you need to know that his life was bigger than how he died. There were people who knew his smile, heard his laughter and watched him grow up."</p><p>At the time Pollion was killed, "the CTA had a long and documented history of violent crime occurring on their system," Cerasa said. "They did not ever take the most basic steps to have meaningful security on the system." </p><p>Violent crime on public transit has fallen dramatically this year after the <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/transportation/2026/03/10/chicago-transit-authority-cta-crime-security-plan-fta" target="_blank" >CTA bolstered security</a> on trains, buses and platforms. That security surge came after a <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/transportation/2025/12/19/president-trump-chicago-cta-crime-security-funding-cut-mayor-brandon-johnson" target="_blank" >funding cut threat</a> from the Trump administration and <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2026/03/02/chicago-cta-transit-crime-assault-battery-leerhsen" target="_blank" >a Chicago Sun-Times investigation</a> that found aggravated assaults and batteries on the CTA reached at least a 24-year high in 2025. </p><p>Last month, Action K-9 Security <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/transportation/2026/08/07/action-k9-security-cta-red-line-fare-evasion" target="_blank" >was sued after its security guards</a> stood by as a fare evader knocked over a woman entering the 95th Street Red Line station. </p><p>Read the lawsuit here: </p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center><div class="Enhancement-item">
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IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-09-01 23:32:18
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