Family of teen fatally stabbed in fight with RT worker launch fundraiser
The family of the teen fatally stabbed by a Sacramento Regional Transit employee during a fight at a Rancho Cordova transit stop has launched a GoFundMe account to raise money to “navigate this tragedy.”
Sacramento County Coroner’s Office identified the teen as Michael Ray Berry, 16, of Fair Oaks. He and a girlfriend were reportedly vaping aboard a Regional Transit bus June 19 by the RT station on Mills Station Road when they were told by the RT ambassador to stop, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. The pair either left or were escorted off the bus by the yet-unnamed ambassador, deputies said.
A fight between the teen and the RT employee, once off the bus, ended with the boy’s stabbing. The teen died.
Regional Transit officials say the employee may have tried to defend himself when he stabbed the teen.
“The ongoing investigation indicates the employee was attacked by the two teens, which led to a stabbing in self-defense,” officials said.
The transit agency’s ambassadors are trained in de-escalation techniques but are not authorized to carry knives.
Family members on GoFundMe called the deadly encounter “a misunderstanding and altercation that should have never escalated the way it did.”
Deputies detained the Regional Transit employee following the fatal incident, but did not arrest him. The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office is still determining whether to file criminal charges.
A relative of Michael’s, Heaven Billups, organized the $5,000 fundraiser, describing her cousin as a “bright, funny, and loving young soul with his whole life ahead of him.”
“Our family is heartbroken. A simple ride on public transportation turned into a nightmare we can’t wake up from,” Billups wrote as part of the family’s online appeal. “Mikey didn’t deserve this. No one does.”
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