SAN ANTONIO — Local ride-share drivers are concerned after a disturbing arrest last week.
Amarpreet Singh Sidhu, 35, is facing an indecent exposure charge related to an incident back in February.
San Antonio police said he threatened then exposed himself to a female Lyft driver. We are not naming the victim in this story.
However, local Lyft driver, Raquel De La Garza said she has gone through a similar experience with a different man.
“I was able to deescalate and convince him to get out of the vehicle until it got any worse, but I didn’t even know it was a crime till I saw the article about the incident last month,” De La Garza said.
De La Garza said she reported it to Lyft and they notified her that she would never be matched up with the passenger again. But she is unaware of if he was even banned. She said regrets not calling the police.
“It’s not cute, it’s not flirty, it’s sexual harassment,” De La Garza said.
She said she worried about retaliation as a driver. She claims it is easy for drivers to be banned from Lyft but for users who are banned, they can find ways to get back onto the app.
“I’ve picked up a lot of accounts that were obviously fake names, fake profiles and so there’s nothing to stop these people,” She said.
Lyft does list safety tips for drivers on its website, which includes a feature where the drivers can share their location with friends or family.
De La Garza said she always makes sure to stay in a safe location when driving and to share her location.
“Always be safe, always keep your head on a swivel,” De La Garza said.
A spokesperson for Lyft released this statement in response to this story:
"The behavior described is reprehensible and has no place in the Lyft community or anywhere in society. Upon learning of this incident, we permanently banned the rider from the Lyft platform, contacted the driver to offer support, and assisted law enforcement with their investigation. Safety is fundamental to Lyft, and that is why we’ve built safety into every part of the Lyft experience – before, during, and after the ride — and we constantly work to make Lyft an even safer platform. Our Safety team is available 24/7, so drivers and riders can always reach a live person if they have concerns and so we can take action to keep our community safe. We recently launched a new feature with ADT to allow drivers to connect directly with an ADT agent via live video."