An apparently enraged driver attacked and beat a woman in SoMa Sunday, after she got into his car thinking it was the transportation network company vehicle she'd requested.
The Chron has the tale, which is appropriate since the the incident began just steps from their front door, at Fifth and Natoma Streets.
They report that a 22-year-old woman hailed a TNC using a smartphone app at around 1:10 Sunday night, following an evening at an area nightclub.
When the car that she thought was hers approached, she got into the back seat. But this was no rideshare: Instead, according to the Chron, the 60something-year-old driver took her only two blocks before he "turned around and began punching the woman in the face and arms." He then tried to join her in the back seat, but she kicked him away, escaped, and called the cops.
As she summoned police, the Chron reports, the suspect drove away. He hasn't been identified, and no arrests have been made.
This, of course, is a situation that's becoming all too common — as previously reported, a man suffered a similar fate in January after he got into a car that he thought was his Lyft...but wasn't. As Lyft noted at the time, when passengers request a car from their service, "they get a text confirmation that includes the driver’s name as well as the make, model and color of their car. Passengers also immediately see a picture of their driver’s face, their car and their license plate number, and can track their driver’s arrival via GPS."
According to a Lyft spokesperson contacted today, "Lyft has no reports matching this description from individuals or authorities regarding this incident."
The same is true for the Uber app, and yet, people continue to get into the wrong cars. As Uber driver Kelly Dessaint wrote in 2014 after accidentally picking up the wrong passenger (and still getting her safely to her destination), "It’s alarming to think how alone we are on the streets. This time, a disaster was averted. But what about all the other times?"
Previously: Man Who Thought He Was Getting Into Lyft Robbed At Gunpoint