Denver Lyft driver accused of assaulting woman visiting city

WESTMINSTER, Colo. -- A San Diego woman visiting the City of Denver said an altercation between she and her Lyft driver turned violent, leading to an alleged assault.

Alicia Corbett told Denver7 she took a Lyft ride home after an evening out with friends on Christmas night, only to receive got a huge surprise when her driver became frustrated in the car.

“I'm like, 'Hey, you're going the wrong way like completely other way,' and I said 'Tour GPS is wrong, I could just get you there from here' and he was like 'Okay' and got all kind of flustered," said Corbett.

Corbett said after missing several turns, the situation escalated when he dropped her off.

“He sped in here and slammed on his brakes and then he just started calling me names and yelling at me and I just got out of the car and I'm like 'okay' and like I told you started walking up," said Corbett.

That’s when Corbett reports the driver walked up from behind her, punched her in the head and kicked her after she had fallen down.

“He actually went around the back of his car and I was like 'just, just get back in the car,' said Corbett.  “Just clocked me like right here, and then I fell on the ground and then he kicked me."

Denver Police say in the past year they've received 17 reports of assault involving Lyft and Uber.

In some of those the driver was the aggressor, in others they were the victim.

Police say it's a good idea to screenshot the confirmation with your driver’s info on it and also take a picture of the license plate.

Regardless, Corbett says there's no excuse for what happened to her.

“That could have been worse, he could have seriously hurt me, so, I don't know how often I'll be doing it from now on,” said Corbett.

Lyft released a statement to Denver7 about the incident which reads:

“The safety of the Lyft community is our top priority, and we were deeply concerned to hear about these incidents.  We have a strict zero-tolerance policy regarding violent or discriminatory behavior, and the drivers involved have been banned from accessing the Lyft platform.”