After DNA linked Lyft driver to an Orlando woman's sexual assault, she is suing Lyft

Aug. 15--In the early morning hours of March 30, 2017, she awoke slumped in the back seat of a Lyft. There was blood on her chest and inner thigh. Her right breast was exposed.

Her Lyft app said she should have been dropped off at 3:47 a.m. after a 23-minute ride, but it was after 5 a.m. and the woman was still in the car.

Neighbors told police they had seen the driver, 61-year-old David Glen McNeill, pull up to the woman's home and duck into the backseat for about 30 minutes.

"He disappeared," a witness told Orlando police, according to an arrest warrant, "which suggested he was laying down horizontally."

The woman, who was not named in the report, later requested a sexual assault exam, and, three months later, the DNA swabs taken from her underwear and vagina matched McNeill's DNA.

Police also found at least three photos on McNeill's phone of the woman unconscious in the backseat of his silver SUV with her buttocks exposed. The Apopka man was arrested in July 2017 and charged with sexual battery, battery and give false information to law enforcement. His case is still pending in court.

Courtesy of Orlando Police Deparment

David Glen McNiell, of Apopka, has been charged with sexual battery, battery and providing false information to law enforcement during a felony investigation.

David Glen McNiell, of Apopka, has been charged with sexual battery, battery and providing false information to law enforcement during a felony investigation. (Courtesy of Orlando Police Deparment)

Now, the woman is suing Lyft for negligence, claiming the ride-sharing company was negligent in its hiring, training, supervision and retention of McNeill. According to the suit, filed in Orange County circuit court last week, Lyft was fraudulent in its "misrepresentations" to the public regarding safety.

The suit also claims McNeill inflicted intentional emotional distress on the woman.

"Lyft is vicariously liable for the intentional and negligent tortious actions of its agents and employees," the lawsuit claims.

The woman is seeking at least $15,000 in damages. McNeill's attorney and Lyft did not respond to requests for comment.

The case is one in more than 380 alleged incidents of sexual harassment and sexual assault worldwide -- most of them in the U.S. -- that have been chronicled since 2013 by "Who's Driving You?," a public awareness campaign led by the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association. The trade association represents the interests of fleet operators and lobbies on behalf of its members.

The association tracks various crimes on Uber and Lyft around the world through news media reports, including murders, assaults and kidnappings. But sexual harassment and assault is the most commonly reported incident.

An April CNN investigation found that at least 103 Uber drivers in the U.S. have been accused of sexually assaulting or abusing their passengers since 2014.

To be sure, the reporting rate for sexual assaults has risen in most industries, including the taxi industry, thanks in part to the growth of the #MeToo movement. Still, the frequency of the incidents on Uber and Lyft, which don't prescribe to the same safety protocols, has raised significant concern from politicians and others.

In May, nine members of Congress, including U.S Rep, Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, sent a letter to the two companies outlining their safety concerns.

"You onboard drivers at a rapid pace without property screening and background checks and without fingerprinting, which is one of the biggest concerns," said John Boit, a spokesperson for the association.

Taxi drivers in most medium and large cities have to undergo fingerprinting as part of the hiring process, which allows for more accurate screenings of potential hires, Boit said. But while Uber and Lyft do background check their drivers via a company called Checkr, the ride-sharing services have refused to add a fingerprinting requirement, arguing that it's expensive and may discriminate against minorities.

They have, however, waived arbitration agreements, which allows drivers and passengers with sexual assault claims to pursue their cases in open court. Lyft has also said it plans to publish a safety report on sexual assault complaints received on its platform.

Fingerprinting may not have changed the outcome of the Orlando Lyft driver's case -- McNeill has no other prior sexual assault or battery charges in the Orlando area -- but it may be a safeguard against other cases of sexual harassment or assault by Uber or Lyft drivers, Boit said. A bill in the Florida Legislature enacting statewide rules for ride sharing companies last year fell short of requiring that Uber and Lyft fingerprint drivers.

"There is an anonymity in the way the system is set up... I think is dangerous," Boit said.

cherrera@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5660

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