Lyft driver said customer sexually assaulted her

ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - A Lyft driver called it an unforgettable ride – in the worst of ways. A Jonesboro woman told FOX 5 News her last passenger on Easter Sunday sexually assaulted her when she declined to perform a sex act for money.

"Nothing has been the same since it makes you not want to trust people," the driver said, recounting how her worst nightmare became reality Sunday evening. "He took my peace away from me."

The victim was just three weeks on the job when she brought a passenger to and from the Texaco gas station on Piedmont Road – a 10-minute ride for $3.75.

She recalled telling the passenger, "'Have a nice night,' and I ended his trip in the app, but he never got out of my car."

The passenger asked her to come inside his Buckhead apartment, then offered to pay her for oral sex, according to the driver. She persistently said, “No.”

"He cut off my [car] light, and he put his hand inside my shirt, and he started grabbing my breasts," she said, breaking into tears. The fondling escalated from there.

Thankfully, a woman started walking by the car, according to preliminary information from police, which spooked the passenger, causing him to run away. That's when the driver returned to the Texaco, where it was well lit, and called 911 and alerted Lyft.

"When you get in certain situations you never know what you're going to do until you're faced with it," she said. "I feel like I did what I could."

In an email, Lyft told FOX 5 News: "The rider has been permanently banned from our platform and we have reached out to the driver to extend our support."

In the meantime, the shaken young woman is leaning on her mother to help her through.

"She shouldn't be violated for doing that because someone else has some kind of sick needs that they're trying to fulfill," the mother told FOX 5 News, frustrated her daughter was put in this situation by simply working hard.

The police report was not ready at the time this story was published, but preliminary information shows the investigation is ongoing and the driver's case has been assigned to a detective in the Special Victims Unit.