SEATTLE, Wash. — The Seattle Police Department is investigating a report that a Seattle ride-share driver forced a woman into a Capitol Hill apartment and sexually assaulted her for hours on Sunday.
According to SPD, the woman, who is in her 20s, got into a ride-share vehicle on Sunday afternoon, but the driver reportedly canceled the ride. The male driver said she would not be charged for the ride, and then he drove to an apartment near Summit Avenue, police said.
KIRO 7 is only using the first name of the victim, Abigail. Abigail said she was picked up around 6 p.m. on Sunday.
“The driver said he was going to cancel the ride so I wouldn’t get charged for it,” Abigail said. “The next thing I know I was being forced into somebody’s apartment.”
Abigail said the man was twice her size.
She told police that the suspect forced her into the apartment and raped her for several hours until she was able to get away.
“I tried to get away initially after a couple of hours, and then he came running after me and dragged me back into his apartment – and then assaulted me again,” she said.
She added that she thought he was going to kill her.
She said after five hours, “I just like, broke down crying and was like, begging him to let me go. I just said I had to take my dog out, or my dog was going to die.”
He then let her go. By that time, she said it was past 11 p.m.
Abigail said she went to the hospital and contacted police the next morning. Investigators are now working with the ride-share company to identify the driver.
SPD did not identify which ride-share company the suspected driver worked for in Sunday’s incident.
KIRO 7 News did an investigation last year about women who claimed Uber and Lyft drivers sexually assaulted them.
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We talked to an SPD sexual assault detective who confirmed that their department is seeing more cases involving sexual assault ride-share drivers. But he also said that “prior to the increase in ride share services, we were getting cases of taxicab” drivers suspected of sexually assaulting female passengers.
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