Passenger disliked Lyft’s driver’s COVID protection. So he attacked him mid-ride, cops say
The Lyft driver said his passenger became irate that he was driving with a plastic partition to protect against the coronavirus, tore it down, and put him in a chokehold while he was driving his car. As the driver was being choked and pulled toward the back seat, he lost control of his car.
The passenger, however, told police that the driver was driving erratically and “to protect himself and his friends” — one of whom was the other passenger’s 7-year-old child — he tore down the partition to grab the driver and force him to pull over.
That’s not what the car’s dashboard camera captured, however, Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies said. They looked at the clip after they arrived to find the two men fighting in the street in Central Florida’s Flagler Beach Sunday morning after midnight.
According to deputies, 36-year-old Travis Schriever Smith was the aggressor.
In the black-and-white video, Smith and another man and the child are in the back seat as the driver, wearing a mask, drives. Smith is heard in the backseat muttering something about the clear, plastic shield to the other passenger and asking who bought it? Who paid for it?
“I think you’re lying,” he tells the driver.
Suddenly, 44 seconds into the clip, Smith is seen tearing through the plastic like the Incredible Hulk through flypaper, grabbing the surprised driver around the neck with his right arm and then covering the driver’s face with both of his arms and hands. As Smith does so, he forcefully pulls the screaming driver up out of his seat toward the back seat.
The driver manages to stop the car and get out. So do the other two men from the rear seat.
Witnesses at the intersection called 911 to report a fight in the street.
When officers arrived at the intersection of Belle Terre Parkway and Royal Palm Parkway, they found the pair fighting, with Smith atop the driver, “restricting his movement,” deputies said.
After the two men were pulled apart, deputies began the interviews and got differing stories — until the video’s dashboard camera, which shows the car’s interior as well as some of the street, betrayed Smith.
“The events matched exactly as the Lyft driver had described,” Flagler Sheriff’s deputies said in their report.
“This was a very dangerous situation for not only the people inside the vehicle but for the other motorists on the roadway,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in the office’s media release. “This drunk attacked an innocent driver and put numerous lives in danger. These rider-share services can quickly become dangerous and drivers should be cautious of who they let in their vehicle. Thankfully the video recording device captured the entire incident and he went to jail.”
According to court records, Smith was charged with misdemeanor simple battery and felony child abuse/physical or mental injury. The latter, because “he put the 7-year-old’s life in jeopardy during the attack in a moving vehicle,” deputies said.
Smith was booked into jail after 3:20 a.m. Sunday.
Smith was released after 11 a.m. Sunday after paying a total $7,500 bail.
According to deputies, the Lyft driver had minor injuries, including a hematoma on the side of his forehead.
As for the other man and his kid?
They “got a courtesy ride to a local hotel,” deputies wrote in the release.
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 5:11 PM.
