How did Justin Lavelle die? Lyft Passenger Dropped Off on the Freeway 110

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#1

This is the question on police and family’s lips. How did 23-year-old Justin Lavelle die on January 31st, 2018? The story starts out with a request for a Lyft ride where Tariq Rasheed, a Lyft driver picked up Lavelle from West Hollywood and drove along the 110 freeway. According to Raseed, Lavelle was drunk and grabbed hold of his steering wheel, causing them to be in extreme danger. Raseed claims that he stopped the car and ordered Lavelle out, onto the side of the 110 freeway. After which Lavelle was hit by another car, that has not been apprehended, and no one saw or came forward with a witness account of what actually happened after Lavelle was ordered out of the car.

According to Lavelle's mother, he called her during the ride and was shouting in a panic that he had been pepper sprayed. She had to fly from Virginia Beach in Virgina to LA to see her unrecognizable sons body.

Lyft immediately deactivated Raseed; Uber also stopped Raseed's access to the app. While Raseed might not have been active in the actual hit and run, dropping off a passenger on the side of a freeway, when pepper sprayed and possibly drunk is a precursor to an accident in coming.

Lavelle's family and friends managed to raise over $10,000 for a funeral over the GoFundMe website.

#2

He was being aggressive with the Lyft driver then he has no choice other than to pull over and kick him out. Why would I, as a driver would risk my life just because someone cannot make sane decisions in the moment?

#3

I think most drivers would have done the same thing too. Why in the world would you keep driving when someone’s trying to grab your steering wheel?

The lesson for the riders is to manage their drinking, not managing the driver’s wheel.

#4

while this guy looks just like every over-entitled drunk white guy that has ever given me a hard time on a ride,
putting him out on the freeway AND pepperspraying the guy (which seems highly likely) is UNACCEPTABLE.

this seems like the perfect storm of two people with bad judgment meeting at a most inopportune moment in time.

#5

There are so many details that are missing - How do you push a guy out of a moving vehicle while you are driving? If the driver did spray pepper spray, how did he not get blinded himself? Was the passenger wearing a seat belt? Is there any camera footage? Why was the driver not in the right lane if the passenger was giving him trouble? To make any judgement with this report is just based on reinforcing a currently believed belief.

#6

Don’t know all the facts and seems some bad actions could be alleged on both parties. Would be interesting to see drivers rating and if he had any prior issues. Also love how Uber always says driver-partners should take whatever actions they feel they need to to remain safe, yet neither Uber or Lyft said they were investigating this. They both just deactivated their driver. Glad they got your back.