Texas Lyft Driver Assaulted by Passenger Sues Rideshare Company and Hospital

Lyft Driver Alleges Violent Assault

A Texas Lyft dri­ver named Kehinde Ayoola has filed a law­suit against Lyft and Memo­r­i­al Her­mann Hos­pi­tal in Hous­ton after a pas­sen­ger alleged­ly attacked him by chok­ing him with his own seatbelt.

Ayoola, who had been a rideshare dri­ver for sev­en years, says the vio­lent inci­dent has left him fear­ful and unwill­ing to con­tin­ue dri­ving passengers.

Passenger Charged with Aggravated Assault

Accord­ing to Ayoola, the pas­sen­ger, Ramiro Vel­la, was picked up from Memo­r­i­al Her­mann Hos­pi­tal with the assis­tance of hos­pi­tal staff. 

Once in the vehi­cle, Vel­la alleged­ly began act­ing strange­ly, even­tu­al­ly reach­ing over and wrap­ping Ayoola’s seat­belt around his neck, chok­ing him. Vel­la was lat­er arrest­ed and charged with Aggra­vat­ed Assault in con­nec­tion with the attack.

Lasting Trauma for Lyft Driver

Ayoola says the trau­mat­ic expe­ri­ence has had a pro­found impact on his life, leav­ing him con­stant­ly fear­ful and unable to con­tin­ue his job as a rideshare driver.

He explained that even when his own grand­son is in the car, he is over­come with fear, con­stant­ly vig­i­lant for any poten­tial threat. 

Ayoola’s attor­ney, Osayu­ki Ogbei­det, stat­ed that the dri­ver has suf­fered “very spe­cial dam­ages” beyond just lost wages and med­ical bills, with his “whole life turned upside down.”

Lawsuit Alleges Negligence by Lyft and Hospital

In the law­suit, Ayoola alleges that Lyft and Memo­r­i­al Her­mann Hos­pi­tal were neg­li­gent in their han­dling of the situation. 

He claims he expressed con­cerns about the pas­sen­ger’s con­di­tion to hos­pi­tal staff, who assured him the pas­sen­ger was “okay.” Ogbei­det argued that Ayoola was an “inno­cent, hard­work­ing man” who was sim­ply try­ing to com­plete a ride ordered and super­vised by the hospital.