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Lyft driver arrested after reportedly kidnapping Phoenix woman


Lyft driver arrested after reportedly kidnapping Phoenix woman

PHOENIX (AZFamily) -- A Phoenix woman is anonymously sharing her terrifying experience with others after being reportedly kidnapped by her Lyft driver on Wednesday.

Her driver, Justice Levon, was arrested Wednesday. He is accused of kidnapping the woman after she dozed off in the back seat during the 45-minute ride.

"That day, it seemed normal at first, and it just turned left," she said.

The mom of two says she's been taking Lyft rides for weeks to get around after her car recently broke down. She said she was coming off a 10-hour work shift when she requested a ride from a store near 48th Street and Broadway Road.

After the driver picked her up, he asked her about her plans for the day. The woman told him, "We're going to pick up my kids from the daycare. I have two disabled kids there, waiting for me."

Sometime during the ride, she fell asleep, but when she woke up, she was near 35th Avenue and Bell Road, miles away from her drop-off location.

"So then I said, 'Hey sir, you missed my stop. I dozed off. It's a good thing I woke up,' and he was just talking to himself about, 'Allah, Allah, am I doing ok?'"

After he didn't stop and let her out, she quickly dialed 911. The woman told the dispatcher about the situation with Levon.

"I was scared for my life. I told the dispatch lady I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what his intentions are," the woman said.

It took police about 20 minutes to reach the woman.

"My phone was dying, and it died. And I was in there with him with it dead. So I just got my cutter out, and I told her, 'I'm not going to go out like this. I'm going to fight. Because this cannot be happening to me right now. If I don't get my boys, they don't have nobody,'" she said.

Levon finally let her out in a dirt field in the West Valley. He told police he thought the victim was "the voice in his head," and admitted to being diagnosed with schizoaffective and bipolar disorder.

Since it all happened, the victim shared that she hasn't returned to work.

"I don't know what I'm going to do, you know? Because I work so far," she said. "I'm doing what I can do to keep a job, to get my kids where they need to go and to save up for a car, but it's hard. It's very hard."

Levon has bonded out of jail and is due back in court later this month.

A Lyft spokesperson shared the following statement:

"Safety is fundamental to Lyft, and the incident described is deeply troubling. We have permanently removed the driver from the Lyft platform, contacted the rider to offer support, and stand ready to assist law enforcement with any investigation."

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