A Colorado state lawmaker is suing the ride-hailing firm Lyft and a Colorado-based transportation outfit after she says she was sexually assaulted by her driver on a experience final yr.
Rep. Jenny Willford, a Northglenn Democrat, spoke in regards to the new lawsuit throughout a information convention within the state Capitol on Tuesday. She mentioned she was sexually assaulted in February by a person “utilizing another person’s profile” and who “wasn’t the motive force introduced to me by the Lyft app.”
Her swimsuit accuses Lyft of failing to make sure its drivers move required background checks and don’t share profiles. It alleges that Lyft rolled again security protections the corporate introduced after media shops reported a number of years in the past on the extent of sexual assaults by drivers on rides organized via the apps of Lyft and its fundamental competitor, Uber.
“Each passenger ought to know that in the event that they pay for a ride-share, the individual truly choosing them up matches the motive force listed within the profile — that the motive force can move a background verify, that they meet the authorized {qualifications} to be a transportation community firm driver in our state, and that they’re secure and the motive force won’t bodily or sexually assault them,” Willford mentioned.
The lawmaker was just lately elected to her second time period within the Home. She was flanked Tuesday by supporters and her attorneys, together with former state Democratic Occasion chair Morgan Carroll.
Her swimsuit, filed in Adams County on Monday, is towards Lyft and Shanu Transportation, a neighborhood firm owned by Kholmurod Halimov. Halimov was the registered person of the Lyft driver profile assigned to select up Willford, in response to the swimsuit.
However she was picked up after dinner with buddies by a special man, who was additionally driving a automotive registered to Halimov’s firm.
The motive force made inappropriate and sexual feedback to her, she mentioned, and he or she eliminated her heels as a result of she believed she must run out of the automotive. She was then sexually assaulted close to her dwelling, she mentioned.
Messages despatched to Lyft this week weren’t returned. Halimov additionally didn’t reply to an electronic mail searching for remark. The Denver Submit was unable to contact the person recognized within the swimsuit as the motive force who assaulted Willford; it’s not naming him as a result of he has not been charged with against the law.
James Burlison, a spokesman for the Northglenn Police Division, confirmed that “a report has been filed” with the police division when requested about Willford’s case. However he declined to remark additional, citing the open investigation.
Although she was assaulted in February, Willford mentioned DNA samples from the case had not but been examined. These samples are caught up within the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s testing backlog: Company officers instructed lawmakers final week that it now takes greater than 500 days on common to course of kits preserving sexual assault proof.
Willford referred to as that delay “egregious” and referred to as on the state to handle it.
Carroll mentioned no arrest had been made within the case due to the testing backlog. She mentioned the alleged assailant was believed to nonetheless be in Colorado.
Willford and her legal professionals accused Lyft of failing to adequately handle the hundreds of consumers who’ve reported being sexually assaulted, pointing to the corporate’s personal depend of greater than 4,150 incidents over a three-year interval. Willford argued that Lyft had not completed sufficient to cease drivers from sharing profiles with unauthorized drivers, together with with some who might not have handed background checks.
The swimsuit argues that the corporate violated Colorado legal guidelines regulating transportation firms and shopper safety. It alleges that Lyft rolled again plans to require annual background checks. The swimsuit additionally alleges that Halimov, Shanu Transportation’s proprietor, wouldn’t have handed a background verify had Lyft required it, and it accuses his firm of negligence and false imprisonment.
When Willford instructed Lyft about her assault, the corporate refunded her for the $85.53 experience and mentioned it could not match her with the identical driver once more, she mentioned.
Because of the assault, she mentioned, she’s suffered from post-traumatic stress dysfunction.
“I’ve a platform that most individuals don’t have and a daughter to lift on this world,” the legislator mentioned. “It’s why I’m right here to say that Lyft must take their systemic issues of sexual assaults, pretend profiles, bought or rented profiles, and profile-sharing very significantly — and do one thing now.”
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