Lyft driver gropes 16-year-old and asks if she'll ‘kiss and tell,' WA cops say
A Lyft driver is accused of groping a 16-year-old girl during a ride and asking her if she would 'kiss and tell,' Washington prosecutors said.
Martin Njoki, 43, from Kenya, was charged Monday, April 14, with indecent liberties and unlawful imprisonment with a sexual motivation enhancement, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.
'The behavior described is reprehensible and has no place in the Lyft community or society. We immediately banned the driver from the Lyft platform and reached out to the ride requester to offer support as soon as we became aware of the situation. We are also assisting law enforcement with their investigation,' a Lyft spokesperson told McClatchy News by email April 16.
The incident was reported to police at 4:39 a.m. on Feb. 17, the Bellevue Police Department said in a probable cause statement.
The teenage girl sneaked out of her house in Bellevue and took a Lyft to her 18-year-old boyfriend's house in SeaTac, police said.
SeaTac is about a 20-mile drive south from Bellevue.
The boyfriend called her a Lyft back home and watched her get into the car, he told police.
The teen girl told police she opened the front door of the car, but there were items in the seat, so she tried to sit in the back.
The driver moved the items and told her to sit in the front, so she did, police said.
The girl and driver spoke for most of the ride, but as they got near her home, Njoki told her he liked her and asked, 'Do you kiss and tell?' according to the documents.
Njoki asked if he could kiss her, and the teen told him she had a boyfriend, to which he responded, 'But you don't kiss and tell,' police said.
He then forced her to touch his crotch and grabbed her arm and groped her when she tried to leave, according to the documents.
She called her boyfriend crying, and he reported the assault to police, authorities said.
Lyft suspended Njoki's account 'due to allegations relating to touching a passenger in a sexual manner without consent,' police said in the probable cause statement.
He emailed Lyft and told the company he didn't touch the teen but she had gotten 'annoyed with me because I didn't let them sit upfront,' the court documents said.
Njoki is in the U.S. on a work visa, and his pregnant wife and five children live in Kenya, police said.
He is in jail and his bail is set at $150,000.
His next court date is April 24.
Bellevue is about a 10-mile drive east from Seattle.
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