Lyft Driver Sexually Assaulted Drunk Tourist In The Backseat Before Dropping Her Off At Her Hotel

A Lyft driver reportedly sexually assaulted a drunk tourist in the backseat of his car during a ride from a bar to her hotel in Florida on Sunday, Feb. 27.

The Lyft driver, identified as Kevyn Rojas, a 26-year-old Miami man, has been charged with the sexual battery of a physically helpless victim after he allegedly raped an inebriated tourist who was visiting Miami Beach inside his car in a pre-dawn attack on Sunday, Feb. 27, New York Post reported.

“The allegations are that he raped her,” a state prosecutor said at the hearing on Wednesday, March. 2.

The victim, who was reportedly spending her Saturday night out with a friend at a bar in Miami’s Wynwood, later became sick and started vomiting while leaving the establishment. The woman then decided to book a ride back to her hotel using the rideshare app Lyft after feeling ill. Rojas subsequently came to pick her up in a Mitsubishi Galant.

As the victim got into Rojas' car at around 4:20 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 27, Rojas made a few comments about the woman’s blue dress in Spanish. After entering the car, the victim then proceeded to fall asleep.

She was later woken up when Rojas' phone made a notification sound indicating that he had arrived at the Berkeley Shore Hotel in Miami Beach, where she was staying. Instead of letting her out at the hotel, however, Rojas began to drive away and parked his Galant elsewhere. He then hopped in the backseat of his vehicle to attack her, allegedly proceeding to pull up her dress and forcefully taking her underwear off despite her protests, Miami Herald reported.

The victim said she was too intoxicated at the time to fight off Rojas. Rojas stopped his assault several minutes later and returned to the woman’s hotel to drop her off.

A judge set bond for Rojas at $500,000 and ordered him to stay away from the woman and turn over his Colombian and U.S. passports. He remained jailed as of early Thursday, March. 3. Meanwhile, a Lyft spokesperson revealed that Rojas has been permanently barred from its platform.

"Safety is fundamental to Lyft, and the behavior described is appalling,” a spokesperson for the company said. “The driver has been permanently removed from the Lyft community and we stand ready to assist law enforcement with their investigation in any way we can.”

If convicted, Rojas could face up to 40 years to life in prison.