We Interrupt Our Mourning for This…

I wasn’t going to post for awhile, but morons sucked me in. Found on X (Formerly Twitter):

Stay safe out there folks. This is a PSA. Last night I called a Lyft ride. It was a long ride, but I talked to the driver before hand, and recommended the proper route. I live in downtown Cincinnati. Immediately, he drives into KY. My destination was in Ohio.

After 10 minutes of KY driving, assuming the best of intentions, I expressed that he was going the wrong way, and that the other way was quicker. He laughed at me.

I felt my heart sink.

At this moment, I confirmed that my location was shared with my people. I shared the ride too.

I contacted 911 through ADT in the Lyft app, & called 911 myself. I pretended like I was confirming plans for a party, & gave the dispatcher the info I could.

“Ma’am, this is 911, did you mean to call 911?” Yes sir. I did. I don’t know where I am going. At this moment I noticed that my driver had two GPS’s. One to my destination, and one mapped to somewhere 7 hours away.

In the app my arrival time was rapidly increasing. Hours being added to the time. I have never been so scared. Finally – a police officer pulled him over for speeding. They got him out of the car, and spoke to me. They let me charge my phone in one of the cruisers while they tried to figure out what had happened.

By the time he got pulled over – after I lost cell service several times – I was over 65 miles from home. Further from my destination than when I started. There were weapons in the car. I could see them.

This could’ve been so much worse. Had I not trusted my gut, had I thought I was overreacting, this could have been horrific. I’m so grateful I had the tools to do something. Who knows what could’ve happened if I didn’t.

An officer drove me to a nearby field, and we waiting for the Lyft driver to leave the county. I then waited for a friend, alone, for an hour at a local gas station. During the ordeal I was texting my partner – he said “I have never known you to be this scared.” Because I’m never this scared. But god, was I terrified.

So there were a bunch of posts telling her to file charges. My answer was simple: For what crime? Everyone, and I mean HUNDREDS of responses slammed me, calling me stupid, claiming that this was abduction or kidnapping. As evidence:

• He didn’t go the right way. I explained that this isn’t a crime in itself. It’s a civil matter. An airplane that is supposed to fly to NY but diverts to NJ didn’t kidnap you.
• There were weapons. So? In OH and KY, it isn’t illegal to have a weapon in your vehicle.
• They crossed state lines. That isn’t a crime, either.
• Then it was “Explain why he had 2 GPS’s and why he laughed at her.”
• They also said he was speeding, as if that is grounds for a kidnapping charge.

I explained that they were incorrect, that there was no evidence of either crime. Abduction is defined in OH as:

By force or threat, remove another from the place where the other person is found

Since she willingly got into the car, and at no time in the story did she ask to be let out of the car, it wasn’t by force. He didn’t threaten her, so this wasn’t legally an abduction. One person said, deception is enough for kidnapping, but A required element of Kidnapping requires a demand for ransom, sexual performance, or furthering a felony. There was no evidence of that, either.

That’s when the discussion degenerated, and I bowed out. I was called a pedophile, a predator, and a dick sucker. I was accused of being the driver in the story. Then they all screamed that I was stupid and said that if the guy can’t explain away what happened, that’s evidence of a crime.

I admitted that what happened was suspicious, but there isn’t enough here for charges. They guy doesn’t have to prove that he didn’t commit a crime, the cops have to prove that he did. The fact that a ride share didn’t take you where you wanted to go is not a crime.

There are holes in her story anyway. How did the GPS show that she was “hours” away from her destination without her driving into KY for hours, and it only took her friends an hour to come get her from the gas station in KY? Had they arrested this guy, a first year law student could beat the charges. This story is exactly why your mom told you not to get into strangers’ cars.

Jesus, people can be ignorant. They should use their heads for something other than a buttplug.

Nothing like a good internet argument to make you forget your troubles for a bit.