Lyft driver carjacked and assaulted in South Baltimore
BALTIMORE -- A Lyft driver was carjacked and assaulted early Saturday morning in South Baltimore, according to authorities.
He had driven to the 100 block of South Payson Street to pick up a fare, police said.
That's when he was attacked by three males and three females, according to authorities.
They approached his vehicle—a blue, new Toyota Corolla—injured the man, took his cell phone, and fled the area in his vehicle, police said.
The victim ran from the area where he was assaulted and found someone who helped him call the police, according to authorities.
He had minor injuries to both his arms and hands but refused medical treatment, police said.
WJZ has been following the trend of carjackings, which spiked toward the end of 2022.
That's when police noticed that there had been a string of robberies involving the use of a ride-share app to carjack drivers.
Uber customers were making arrangements to use the ride-share service and, when their ride arrived, finding themselves held at gunpoint, kidnapped, or taken to an ATM where they were then robbed—sometimes all three.
People were using the app as part of a scheme to pick up ride-share customers and rob them.
In November 2022, law enforcement officials made arrests in connection to a string of carjackings and robberies in Baltimore centered around the ride-share app Uber.
Uber said it had cooperated with the investigation.
Amid the trend in ride-share crimes, Uber urged riders to use the service's safety features—such as sharing their location with a friend or activating an emergency button that calls 911 immediately.
Anyone with information about the assault and carjacking in South Baltimore should contact the Baltimore Police Department.
Anonymous tipsters can call the Metro Crime Stoppers tip line at 1-866-7LOCK-UP.
