Ride-share driver shares photos of sleeping passengers, loses job
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PHOENIX (KTVK/KPHO) — A ride-share driver lost his job after he snapped photos of passengers sleeping in the backseat and posted them on a Facebook group for other Uber and Lyft drivers in the Phoenix area.
“I saw this post pop up the other day with a woman in the backseat passed out and it was concerning to me because I’m pretty sure that’s not what Lyft drivers are there for,” said one woman in the group who wanted to remain anonymous. “He posted picture after picture after picture. That’s when I started taking screenshots.”
There were multiple pictures posted on Facebook.
The woman, who is a former ride-share driver, said she reported the photos to both Uber and Lyft.
“Are they aware that these people are basically being shamed for being drunk, which to me, defeats the purpose of having Uber and Lyft because if you can’t call them for a ride because you’re too scared to be publicly shamed for being drunk or intoxicated, then what’s the point of having that service?”
The driver spoke to Arizona’s Family over the phone. We are not releasing his name because posting photos of sleeping passengers is not illegal, according to Phoenix police. He claims that he has never taken photos of his passengers and that his Facebook account was hacked.
Posting pictures of people passed out isn’t illegal.
“I had commented and said, ‘Keep sharing your pictures sicko, I’m sending them all to Lyft.’ As soon as I put that comment on there, all of his posts started disappearing,” said the other ride-share driver. “I’m not bringing this to attention to hurt anybody’s livelihood. I don’t want anyone to think that I brought this to light to make this person lose their job or whatever, but this is something that should not be acceptable.”
Lyft said in a statement that this behavior was a violation of their terms of service and confirmed the driver was removed from their platform.
The driver said he wasn’t with Uber, but Uber added that in their policy, sharing a photo of a passenger online is a violation of their community guidelines.
The driver said he filed a police report with the Chandler Police Department after receiving threats, however, the spokesperson for the department said they had no record of any such report.
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