Woman sues Lyft, alleges driver’s action led to her rape
A South Side woman has sued Lyft in federal court, saying one of its drivers helped a man bring her to a hotel in an unconscious state after a night out, leading to her rape.
The woman filed the claim Wednesday on a count of negligence against the company.
She names the alleged rapist in her complaint. Police have been conducting an investigation, but its status is undetermined and no charges have been filed.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette typically does not identify alleged victims of sex crimes.
According to the complaint, the woman went out to dinner with the man and two other companions on Jan. 12 and then to a Strip District nightclub. She said she asked the man to hold her drink while she went to the bathroom. When she came back, she said she finished her drink and then started to feel strange. She said she was affected by the alcohol and “likely
a date rape drug.”
One of her companions decided they should all go home and called a Lyft. By the time the car arrived, she was fading in and out of consciousness, the complaint says.
The companion helped her into the Lyft, which proceeded to take her, her companion and the third man home.
The Lyft dropped off her companion, leaving her and the other man in the car. The man then redirected the Lyft to the Ace Hotel in East Liberty instead of the woman’s home, according to the suit, where the man and the driver roused her and helped her out of the car.
The complaint alleges that the man then placed the woman on a bench in the lobby, secured a room and loaded her onto a luggage cart and took her to the room.
She said she awoke from being unconscious as the man was raping her. She said she screamed and ran out of the hotel, calling her fiance as she left.
The suit blames Lyft for “delivering an unconscious and obviously intoxicated person to a hotel at 3:30 a.m.” to the scene of her rape instead of her original destination of home.
The suit is asking for damages of more than $250,000.
Lyft, based in San Francisco, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.