![17-Year-Old Girl Jumps From Moving Car After Lyft Driver’s ‘Suspicious Behavior’](https://blackenterprise-prod.b-cdn.net/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2023/07/GENERIC-POST-GRAPHIC-NEWS-1.jpg)
November 8, 2022
17-Year-Old Girl Jumps From Moving Car After Lyft Driver’s ‘Suspicious Behavior’
A 17-year-old girl in North Carolina was left injured with scars all over her face after jumping out of a moving Lyft ride due to the driver’s “suspicious behavior.”
Eziya Bowden ordered a ride to get home from work, but said as soon as she entered the car, the driver asked inappropriate questions, WBTV reported.
“‘How many boys flirted with you?’ He said that right away,” Bowden recalled.
“‘Oh, you just look good. I would date you if you weren’t so young.'”
She said the driver started spraying something that made her feel dizzy and warm. The teen believed the driver was attempting to drug her.
“When I got in his car, it did smell like cigarettes, so when he sprayed one time, it was already like, ‘Oh, it no longer smelled like that,'” she explained.
“But for you to keep spraying it, then roll your windows up, like, I know it’s not about me being nervous or anything.”
The driver’s questionable behavior eventually prompted the teen to make the potentially life-threatening decision to jump out of the moving car.
“I was very scared, but then again…I’d rather get out of this car than fall asleep in a car with this man I don’t really know,” Bowden said.
She blacked out once she jumped out of the vehicle. Bowden, miles away from home, became emotional and started crying.
“I just looked down at the ground, I looked behind me and I just jumped out,” she said.
“He didn’t stop when he noticed the door was open or he heard me crying or anything.”
Bowden said the driver eventually stopped and pretended to be a concerned bystander who called the police. She ended up in the emergency room with scars that only remind her of the terrifying experience.
Lyft has since condemned the driver’s “deeply concerning” behavior and has revoked his access to the platform.
“I don’t think that’s stopping him from anything else. It doesn’t really bring peace to me at all. As young girls, or even women, we have to be very aware and safe of our surroundings,” Bowden said.
“Cancel your ride and wait. Wait for somebody ’cause honestly, I would’ve waited for my friend.”
Lyft refunded her for the ride but the teen is too traumatized to use another ride-share app anytime soon. Police haven’t filed any charges against the driver.