[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
A Florida woman has filed a lawsuit against ride share company Lyft after horrifying allegations.
In a legal complaint filed on Tuesday and obtained by People, Tabatha Means said after a night out drinking, she ordered a ride through the app so she could safely get home. Unfortunately, this responsible step would end in a nightmare as she claims on April 28, 2019, her Lyft driver made inappropriate comments about her during the ride and then eventually followed her into her home and “repeatedly” raped her and forced her to engage in oral sex. The sexual assault resulted in pregnancy. A difficult one at that, with the mother allegedly suffering three hemorrhages and eventually giving birth prematurely through C-section at only 33 weeks. The baby boy ended up having to stay in the NICU for a month due to the difficult birth. So, so sad!
Related: Law & Order: SVU Star Mariska Hargitay Reveals She Was Raped By ‘A Friend’
The complaint went on to state Means already got a DNA test — and the baby is for sure the Lyft driver’s son:
“[Means] later obtained an administrative order from Florida’s Child Support Services to obtain a DNA sample from the Lyft driver. The test results revealed the probability of 99.9999999998% that the Lyft driver is the father of [Means’] son.”
The lawsuit lists 10 charges and is seeking an unspecified amount of damages. The victim is also demanding a jury trial — and as it seems from Lyft’s response to the allegations, they aren’t very eager to take this to court! In a statement to the outlet, the company accused Means of articulating the specific ride share OUTSIDE of their app:
“Safety is fundamental to Lyft and the behavior described has no place in our society. The alleged incident from 2019 did not take place on the Lyft platform while using the Lyft app, but rather involved a separate trip arranged between the individuals involved. Lyft has worked to design policies and features that protect both drivers and riders, and we are always working to make Lyft an even safer platform. Lyft has a dedicated, around-the-clock safety response team, a partnership with ADT to aid in emergencies, and works with leading national organizations to inform our safety policies.”
Continuing, they also said there was never a police report filed:
“Police were never involved and there was no police report filed for this incident.”
Meanwhile, the alleged victim’s attorney Rachel Abrams argued to the outlet that the company’s response is total BS:
“As for the facts of Tabatha’s case, this incident absolutely involved a trip booked through the Lyft App, and Lyft’s attempt to deflect liability is a perfect example of its bad faith handling of this crisis.”
She also said in a press release that Means was in a “vulnerable state” after the alleged attack — as anyone would be! She said because of this, a police report was not filed out of fear:
“Over the years, Lyft has aggressively marketed itself as a safe alternative to driving while intoxicated, and specifically aimed those messages at young women … Lyft’s driver ‘background checks’ are a joke.”
Abrams argued that Lyft hasn’t disclosed any sort of safety data from 2020 onwards, but hopes this situation will be a wake up call and get the company to upgrade their safety measures.
All the while the company still continues to deny their background checks aren’t up to par to People:
“[Lyft] has a protocol to ensure safety of both riders and drivers and are continuing to build on our safety policies, procedures and features. Before giving a ride on the Lyft platform, all driver-applicants are screened for criminal offenses and driving incidents. Our criminal background checks are provided by a third-party company, and include a social security number trace, a nationwide criminal search, a county court records search, a federal criminal court records search as well as a U.S. Department of Justice 50-state sex offender registry search. In addition, Lyft runs annual criminal background checks on all active drivers.”
Lyft also says the accused driver hasn’t been working for them “for years” — a little sus, we would say, if the guy suddenly quit!
Despite all the back-and-forth between legalities, Means said in a press release that “every day is a struggle” since the alleged incident:
“Every day is a struggle. I’m still working to process this trauma, and at the same time I need to be a mom to my amazing children, including my youngest whose biological father was my … driver-rapist. I love my kids so deeply – but there are a lot of mixed emotions when the biggest blessing in your life can also remind you of your darkest hour.”
Speaking to People in a separate statement, she added:
“You have a voice and nobody can take that from you. It took me quite some time to come to the realization that I was the one in charge of my voice! I know my truth, and there is no way to stop the evil that is in this world, but going down without a fight against the evil should never be the option. My … driver stole far too much from me, but one thing that couldn’t be stolen was my voice. I also realized that the only way to try to improve and lessen the assaults occurring is to go to the source, the people allowing the situation to occur!”
Such a strong and brave soul! We can’t imagine how tough it is to come forward with something like this.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.
[Image via KTVU Fox 2 San Francisco/YouTube]