Uber Driver 'Traumatized' After Woman Jumps Out Of Car In O'Neill Tunnel
BOSTON (CBS) - A Boston woman was critically injured when she suddenly jumped out of a car and into rush hour traffic in the O'Neill Tunnel Monday morning.
Uber driver Luz Ayala says her passenger seemed distraught getting into her car at the airport. Her accounts with Uber and Lyft have been frozen while police investigate.
The passenger did not have the Uber app. According to, Ayala, she knocked on her window and seemed desperate about getting home.
"I feel traumatized," Ayala said in an interview with WBZ. "I've never gone through something like that. I've never been in trouble."
Ayala broke down crying as she relived the nightmare. She heard her backseat door open and that passenger was gone.
After falling to the ground in the O'Neill Tunnel during rush hour, that passenger was hit by another car.
"I was in shock. I didn't understand what was going on," Ayala said. "Then I saw her behind my car."
This bizarre ride started at Logan Airport. Ayala had just completed an Uber drop off and heard a knock on her window. The 29-year-old woman seemed worried; she didn't have the Uber app but needed a ride home to Mattapan.
"I have been there, desperate," Ayala said. "In places where I don't know what to do and nobody helps you."
So she turned off the app and started toward Mattapan. But after a few minutes, she said the passenger thought they were going the wrong way. She jumped out, and was struck.
"I feel really bad," Ayala said. "I always like to be helpful. I have it inside me to help people. I've always been like that."
Ayala said she's a safe, responsible driver. But she can't drive for Uber or Lyft while police investigate.
She's worried about paying her bills, and she's very worried for the passenger in the hospital, saying, "She suffers from something because a normal person wouldn't do this."
The woman was rushed to Tufts Medical Center in critical condition. The driver who hit her did stay at the scene and there are no charges against him.