Comedian says Lyft driver harassed her: 'I thought I might be kidnapped, raped, or even killed'
Lyft claims to “go the extra mile for safety,” but a Los Angeles-based comedian is calling out the transportation company for failing to take action after she reported a “serious issue” with a driver.
I want more than a stupid $5 credit. Your driver put me in a scenario in which I thought I might be kidnapped, raped, or even killed. That pathetic attempt to mask a serious issue is insulting to me and women everywhere who have to deal with this shit on a regular basis.
— Anna gillcrist (@AnnaGillcrist) April 7, 2019
On Saturday, Gillcrist hailed a shared “Lyft Line” ride to take her home after attending a friend’s bachelorette party, she shared on Twitter. With two other passengers in the back, Gillcrist hopped into the front seat of the car. As soon as she was alone, she said the driver asked if she had a boyfriend.
Last night I took a @lyft home from my friends bachelorette. It was a line, so there were two people in the back seat when I got in. Once they were dropped off, the driver immediately leaned over to me and asks “do you have a boyfriend?”. I paused, and didn’t respond.
— Anna gillcrist (@AnnaGillcrist) April 7, 2019
She recalled telling the driver that she did have a boyfriend after he kept prodding, with the intrusive line of questioning continuing despite her curt responses. Gillcrist said she became alarmed when the driver asked about the whereabouts of her boyfriend, slowing down the car as they approached her address.
“He looks at me and asks ‘is your boyfriend home?’ I immediately realized the doors were locked and I said ‘please unlock the doors,’” Gillcrist recounted, adding that the driver did not respond to her request. “So I pried the lock up, jumped out of the car, and ran to my apartment.”
Shaken by the experience, Gillcrist said she called Lyft the next morning to report the driver. A Lyft customer service agent allegedly said that the company would reprimand the driver and make sure that Gillcrist would not be paired with him again. She was also gifted $5 in Lyft credit.
Disappointed with the reply, that’s when Gillcrist took to social media.
This morning, I spoke with @lyft on the phone and told them exactly what happened. The man said “Well ma’am we will make sure that that driver is not able to pick you up again.” I explained that that wasn’t good enough, that this man needed to not pick up ANY woman ever again.
— Anna gillcrist (@AnnaGillcrist) April 7, 2019
Response to Gillcrist’s experience has been overwhelming, with the thread receiving more than 19k likes and 9.2k retweets. The incident resonated with many women online who shared similar experiences.
That must be the #lyft standard response - I complained about a driver (not same situation) but it was bad enough for me to contact them and they said the exact same thing, except I didn’t get $5 😭 We have #RideAustin where you can select Female Drivers - going to use that now
— Lisa Mu?oz-Johnston (@thedigitalbird) April 9, 2019
Lyft tells Yahoo Lifestyle that “safety is Lyft’s top priority and there is no place for harassment of any sort in our community.” A representative says that as soon as Gillcrist’s incident was reported, the driver was deactivated from the Lyft platform and someone reached out to Gillcrist. (Gillcrist said that Lyft only reached out after her tweet went viral. Gillcrist has declined all interview requests until the company has made another response.)
Lyft maintains that they “have worked hard to design policies and features that protect our community,” including in-app photos of the driver and vehicle, real-time ride tracking, digital receipts, two-way rating systems and professionally administered criminal background checks. The company notes that they offer a 24/7 Critical Response Line to report any safety concerns.
“We do not tolerate harassment or violence on our platform, and such behavior can and does lead to a permanent ban from our service,” a spokesperson from Lyft tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
A similar thing happened to me and not only did nobody answer the "emergency" line forcing me to tweet at them for two days, that's all I got, that I wouldn't be paired with the driver again, and a ride credit. Gee, thanks?
— Arielle Castillo (@ariellec) April 9, 2019
The viral tweet follows a series of several high profile incidents of women being sexually assaulted, abused or even killed when using ride-sharing services. In 2018, CNN reported that 103 Uber drivers had been accused of sexual assaulting or abusing their passengers.
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