HOUSTON – A night of driving to earn extra cash ended in a horrifying robbery. A Lyft driver said he was robbed at knifepoint.
“I did try to tell them just please don’t hurt me," Brandon Bell said. "I can get everything you want, you (can) have everything, just let me go.”
Bell said the last two passengers in a group of five he was dropping off pulled out a knife on him.
“They were consistently telling any move that if I did anything stupid: if I moved if I jolted if I even try to look at them that they were going to cut me,” he said.
Bell said the pair made him get in the backseat and forced him to give up the code to his phone and the pin to his debit card.
They then drove to two gas stations and ended up at one where Bell said the thieves drained his account before getting back in the SUV.
“After that, they put a hoodie, my hoodie over me so I couldn’t see what they were doing or where they were going,” Bell said.
Unsure of where they were taking him, Bell said the pair ultimately dumped him in a ditch in Pearland, stole his mom’s vehicle and left with a warning.
“They took up my ID and said if I do anything stupid that they’re going to come to my apartment and they were going to do something,” he said.
However, Bell said he is speaking up about what happened and choosing not to live in fear. He also wants others to be aware, so it doesn’t happen to them.
“I want to make sure that other people know what’s going on... they can’t scare me just because they robbed me and they wanted to intimidate me, they’re not going to,” Bell said.
The stolen SUV is a grey Jeep Cherokee with license plates, LCF 2056.
Anyone with information is asked to call the South Houston Police Department.
Lyft released a written statement:
The safety of our community is fundamental to Lyft, and the incident described is deeply troubling. We have reached out to the driver to offer our support and stand ready to assist law enforcement with any investigation.