Lyft driver says passenger choked him with his own seatbelt, recounts incident
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - A Lyft driver says he may never work ride-share again after he was attacked by a passenger.
In fact, Lyft driver Kehinde Ayoola says he may never feel comfortable even getting behind the wheel again after he was choked by a passenger while driving down the highway.
Ayoola says he hopes his attack will prompt policy changes to protect other drivers. "He was trying to kill me," Ayoola explains.
It was a ride the Lyft driver thought was going to end in his death when he says his passenger began choking the life out of him. Ramiro Vella is now charged with Aggravated Assault.
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"I thought maybe 'I'm dying'. I said ‘Ok, let me just fight for my life’," says Ayoola.
After arriving to pick up Vella in what Ayoola believes was a hospital-ordered ride, the Lyft driver says the man was standing with three hospital workers, fidgeting and behaving oddly.
"He was moving all around, looking, looking as if he was looking for something. So, I said ‘Is this guy ok?’ The security guard said yes," Ayoola explains.
Shortly after the passenger got into his car, "He was talking to himself. Then he started beating his chest," says Ayoola.
In the backseat, the man slid over behind Ayoola.
"So, I said 'Hey, are you ok?' and he took my seatbelt and wrapped it around my neck, choking me," Ayoola explains.
Going 65 miles an hour on Highway 290, the Lyft driver says his passenger was choking him so hard, that his nose and eyes began to run, and he tried getting his fingers underneath the seat belt.
"When I was trying, my shoulder was really hurt and my leg, when I was steering with my leg, and I was fighting for my life," Ayoola adds, and he says he was able to get his seat belt unfastened.
Then he says Vella put him in a chokehold.
"He used his arm. He bent his arm like this to choke me," Ayoola explains.
After pulling to the side of the road, he says Vella kicked the back window until the frame popped out. Then he says his passenger kicked a dent into the back of his vehicle and opened the trunk.
"I think he was looking for a weapon. (A weapon to hit you with?) Yes, that's what I think," says Ayoola.
Investigators say Vella ran to a house and began yelling and trying to get in. That homeowner called 911 and Vella was arrested.
After the odd ordeal that left Ayoola scarred in several ways, he says he is grateful to have survived.
"I just thank God. It's a miracle from God that I am alive. It was really scary, really scary," explains Ayoola, who says he hopes ride-share services will closely review what happened to him and make some policy changes, particularly when drivers are sent to pick up a 'hospital ordered' passenger.