Women realize mid-trip that drunk man is not their Uber driver, police say

Natalie Neysa Alund
Updated

NASHVILLE — Two would-be Uber passengers learned mid-trip that not only was their driver drunk, but that he wasn't even a real ride-share driver, police say, leading to the man's arrest.

According to an arrest affidavit, an officer conducted a traffic stop on Milian Tesfay as he drove a Chrysler 200 on Interstate 65 in Nashville on May 4.

The officer could smell alcohol on the driver's breath, his eyes were bloodshot and he was speaking loudly, per the affidavit.

The passengers, both women, said the man was their Uber driver, but the driver said he was not an Uber driver and that the women walked up to him at a Cook Out restaurant and asked him for a ride.

The officer said one of the women showed him their Uber app and that their driver was supposed to be in a Honda Accord.

Police said Tesfay failed a sobriety test and was arrested on charges of DUI and evading arrest after the officer said he pulled his arms from the front of his body and continued to move side to side while being handcuffed.

Dangerous ride-share reports in recent weeks

The arrest preceded a separate incident in which an Uber driver and Pennsylvania State University professor was accused of kidnapping two women near Pittsburgh.

Richard Lomotey, 36, of Monaca, Pennsylvania, was driving the two women at around 1:30 a.m. when he held them in the car against their will, according to police reports.

Lamotely, a professor of information sciences and technology at Penn State's Beaver campus, tried to lock the women in his car and told them, "you’re not going anywhere,” according to a complaint reviewed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The women reportedly escaped from the back of the vehicle uninjured and ran away before calling 911.

In April, California police arrested an Uber driver who allegedly attempted to burglarize the Airbnb of passengers he’d just dropped off at the airport.

More: 'Get in the right car': Tips before hopping in an Uber or Lyft

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Women realize mid-trip that drunk man is not their Uber driver, police say