Lyft driver tells passengers to get out, then one is killed exiting car, lawsuit says

More than a year after a Maryland man was struck and killed by a vehicle after exiting his Lyft ride in Delaware, the man’s family is suing the company and driver for his death.

Sidney Wolf was hit by a car in the middle of the night after he was forced to exit onto Delaware’s State Route 1 by his Lyft driver, according to the lawsuit filed against Lyft and its driver.

McClatchy News is not naming the Lyft driver because she is not facing charges as of Sept. 20.

The deadly dispute began when Wolf and his five friends found a young child in the back storage area of the SUV and an argument ensued, the lawsuit says.

Now, Wolf’s family, represented by Kline & Specter law firm, is suing to receive punitive and compensatory damages from both Lyft and the driver for his death.

The lawsuit alleges multiple reasons Lyft should be held liable, including:

• “Improper training” of the driver to safely operate her vehicle

• “Improper supervision” of the driver’s operation of her vehicle
  
  

• A failure to employ drivers who are “competent in safe driving”

• A failure to perform background checks for all of the company’s employees

• A lack of safety policy initiatives within the company

“What occurred here was a deadly disgrace, which we intend to set right,” attorneys Shanin Specter, Regan Safier, Braden Lepisto and Robert Leoni said in a news release.

Lyft did not respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.

In the early morning hours of July 24, 2022, one of Wolf’s friends ordered a Lyft ride for him and five others, according to the lawsuit. Around five minutes later, the Lyft driver arrived to pick up the group.

The car did not have enough seating for all six passengers, the lawsuit says, so five of them had to “sit in the backseat that was intended for three passengers.” One person sat in the passenger seat. The Lyft driver, with all six passengers in tow, began driving south on State Route 1, also known as Coastal Highway. The state route is a four-lane road with two lanes of traffic running in either direction, separated by a grassy median.

While in that area, the lawsuit says the five passengers in back noticed that a child around 5 years old was in the “rear cargo space of the SUV” and “unrestrained.”

The group began asking questions to the child to ensure its safety, which led to the Lyft driver to become angry and start “yelling and berating” the passengers, according to the lawsuit.Then, “without warning,” the driver stopped the car in the left lane of the road with no hazard lights on and demanded all six passengers exit the car.

At one point, the driver screamed at them to “get the ---- out of the car” as the group became concerned she had parked in the road, the lawsuit says.They asked her to move the car to a different location before they would get out, the lawsuit says, but she repeatedly yelled for them to leave immediately.

When they realized that the driver would not drive to a different spot, the passengers in the back seat tried to open the left rear door, which wouldn’t open, according to the lawsuit. So instead, they began to exit the vehicle from the right rear door, which would cause them to walk into the right southbound lane of Coastal Highway, the lawsuit says.

Wolf was the first to exit the back of the car, the lawsuit says, and in an effort to allow more of his friends out of the vehicle, he was standing “in the center of the southbound lanes.” Suddenly, Wolf was struck by an oncoming car and thrown 10 to 15 yards away, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit noted that the particular stretch of Coastal Highway where Wolf exited was “unlit” and “pitch-black.”

The driver fled the crash scene, according to the lawsuit, and at around 1:55 a.m., Wolf was pronounced dead due to “multiple blunt force injuries.”

At the time of his death, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted his condolences regarding the death of Wolf, who had previously worked for him as an aide.

The driver has not been charged for the incident, as reported by WRDE Coast TV.

Lyft has been at the center of several lawsuits involving safety, including 17 lawsuits regarding physical and sexual assault filed in 2022, as reported by NPR as of Sept. 1, 2022.

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