Lyft driver charged with kidnapping, raping intoxicated female passenger
A Lyft driver in Louisiana kidnapped and raped an intoxicated female passenger at his apartment last month, authorities said.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said the 43-year-old victim told police in New Orleans that a driver later identified as Yousef Hamed, 30, picked her up after a night of drinking on Jan. 23. A friend of the woman had earlier called for a ride on her behalf because she was “fairly intoxicated,” Lopinto told reporters Thursday.
But instead of taking the woman to her home just several blocks away, Hamed drove her to his apartment in Harvey, where he asked the woman to come inside. She accepted the invitation and Hamed proceeded to remove her clothing inside the residence before raping her vaginally and anally. He then returned to the Bywater section of New Orleans and dropped the woman off, Lopinto said.
At some point during the ride, Hamed disconnected the fare, signaling to the woman’s friend that the trip was over and that she presumably had arrived home safely, according to the sheriff.
“Most people are going to be able to get home [when using ride-hailing apps like Lyft] but it goes to show that we have sick people in this world,” Lopinto told reporters.
The woman reported the alleged rape to New Orleans police the following day, prompting a rape kit to be performed. Due to her state of intoxication, the woman was initially unsure of exactly where the sexual assault occurred, but investigators later determined with the help of Lyft representatives that the rape took place in Jefferson Parish, authorities said.
Hamed, who has no known prior criminal history, remained held on $400,000 bond at the Jefferson Parish Correctional as of Friday, jail records show.
Lopinto also noted that Hamed claimed that he had consensual sex with the woman, claiming that she had acted in a “childish” manner and admitted to him that she was intoxicated. But Lopinto dismissed that claim, saying that an impaired person cannot provide consent to sexual activity.
“I hate to put it this way, but when somebody’s intoxicated to any point, we know in this society that this action is not appropriate, so I could care less about what he says from that standpoint,” Lopinto told reporters. “A Lyft driver should never be picking up a stranger and bringing them back to their apartment under any type of circumstance, so let’s make that very clear.”
Lyft reps, meanwhile, characterized the allegations as “horrific” in a statement to The Post.
“The safety of our community is our top priority, and we have no tolerance for this behavior on our platform,” the statement read. “We have deactivated the driver and reached out to extend our support to the passenger. We have also been in touch with law enforcement, and stand ready to assist with their investigation.”