Photo: nbcdfw.com
One woman from Duncanville, Texas, says she followed all safety procedures when she got into her most recent – and probably last – Lyft ride she had ordered on the app.
Stefanie Brown tells NBC5 DFW that she ordered the ride for herself and her teenage daughter. When the car arrived, she checked that it fit the description on the app, she checked the license plates and the way the driver looked. At first, it seemed to her that the driver fit the description.
“The picture was I was looking for was a lady of African descent with a head cover of some sort. I get to the car and there's a person of brown-looking African descent. They had a covering that would not allow me to see the complete face,” she says.
When the driver turned to the side, she noticed it was a man and not a woman. She yelled at the driver to stop, urging him to end the ride because he was not the driver supposed to pick her up. When she noticed he was accelerating, Brown checked the door and saw it was unlocked, and grabbed her daughter by the hand and informed her they were about to jump.
She waited for the car to slow down and jumped. The driver never stopped or slowed down to check on them, Brown says for the same media outlet, and that’s telling as far as his real intentions go.
However, the most frightening thing about the ride wasn’t Brown and her daughter’s close escape, but knowing that the driver knows “exactly” where they live and might come back any day now. As a side note, this is where Brown failed to follow the safety procedures, as most ride-sharing companies advise customers to never give out their real address for the pickup points, but a nearby location.
Brown believes the real driver listed on Lyft actually allowed another person to drive her car and pick up riders on her behalf. The incident is under investigation and Lyft says the driver’s account has been suspended.
“The safety of the Lyft community is our top priority, and we take these reports very seriously,” the company says in a statement to the same media outlet. “We permanently deactivated the driver following the report of the incident, have since followed up with the passenger to extend our support, and have reached out to law enforcement to assist with any investigation into the matter.”
“The picture was I was looking for was a lady of African descent with a head cover of some sort. I get to the car and there's a person of brown-looking African descent. They had a covering that would not allow me to see the complete face,” she says.
When the driver turned to the side, she noticed it was a man and not a woman. She yelled at the driver to stop, urging him to end the ride because he was not the driver supposed to pick her up. When she noticed he was accelerating, Brown checked the door and saw it was unlocked, and grabbed her daughter by the hand and informed her they were about to jump.
She waited for the car to slow down and jumped. The driver never stopped or slowed down to check on them, Brown says for the same media outlet, and that’s telling as far as his real intentions go.
However, the most frightening thing about the ride wasn’t Brown and her daughter’s close escape, but knowing that the driver knows “exactly” where they live and might come back any day now. As a side note, this is where Brown failed to follow the safety procedures, as most ride-sharing companies advise customers to never give out their real address for the pickup points, but a nearby location.
Brown believes the real driver listed on Lyft actually allowed another person to drive her car and pick up riders on her behalf. The incident is under investigation and Lyft says the driver’s account has been suspended.
“The safety of the Lyft community is our top priority, and we take these reports very seriously,” the company says in a statement to the same media outlet. “We permanently deactivated the driver following the report of the incident, have since followed up with the passenger to extend our support, and have reached out to law enforcement to assist with any investigation into the matter.”
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