In a recent article by the Washington Post, it was reported that ride share companies Uber and Lyft will begin sharing data on driver deactivations related to assaults. This announcement came a year after the two companies agreed to take such measures. Before now, a driver banned from one platform for sexual
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In January of 2020, we reported on the arrest of Denver Area Lyft driver Tigistu Belete Ergo who stands accused of sexually assaulting a woman he was driving from Denver to Boulder back in 2018. In August of 2020, Ergo pleaded not guilty to second-degree kidnapping with a sexual offense and sexual assault.
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In February 2019, a woman under the pseudonym “Jane Roe 2” made the safe and responsible decision to take a rideshare after drinking. What should have been a normal, safe ride home, turned into a nightmare – one she keeps reliving. That night, her lyft driver raped her, and abandoned her in
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Estey & Bomberger was recently featured in an episode of Oxygen’s “The Dark Web Exposed”. You can watch episode 4 from season 2 titled “Rideshare Nighmares: Safety, Strangers and Sexual Assault” which features sexual assault victim advocate Olivia Zechinni and attorney Kristen Barton. You can watch the episode here on the Oxygen
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Retraumatization occurs when a person who has experienced a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, recalls the event in vivid detail and in turn relives his or her experience. The survivor may also experience retraumatization when he or she engages in behaviors that mimic the original trauma or in situations similar to
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On Wednesday September 9, 2020, Jason Humberto Rodas an Uber driver from Garden Grove was arrested on charges of kidnapping, rape, and robbery in Santa Ana. According to the Santa Ana Police Department, the victim is a 51-year-old woman. She called for an Uber driver at about 4 in the morning to
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In September of 2019 we reported that Octavio Alvarez Gomez, a rideshare driver for Lyft and Uber in the Van Nuys, CA, area, had been charged with one count each of kidnapping to commit rape and rape of an unconscious person. As an update to this case, on September 8 of 2020, CBSLA
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According to an article published on September 1, 2020, in the Los Angeles Times, the ridesharing giant Uber may face big fines for stonewalling the California Public Utilites Commission in regard to the company’s sexual assault data. Uber has spent nine months battling California regulators’ demands for detailed information on sexual harassment and
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Sexual assault is a pervasive problem in the United States. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), approximately one person experiences sexual assault every 73 seconds. One child experiences sexual assault every nine minutes — and only 5 out of every 1,000 sexual assault perpetrators go to jail for
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In March 2019, a man posing as an Uber driver murdered college student Samantha Josephson in Columbia, South Carolina. Josephson, known as Sami to her friends and family, mistook another vehicle for her Uber after a night out with friends. Josephson’s murder was a wake-up call to many on the risks of
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