ORLANDO, Fla. — A Lyft driver flagged down a trooper Tuesday morning on Semoran Boulevard, saying she was in fear for her life because of a passenger, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The victim, who only gave her first name, Emilia, said she has only been driving for Lyft for three weeks.
Emilia said she picked up the man at a location on John Young Parkway, and the conversation soon began to feel uncomfortable.
"He says, ‘I need your phone. Maybe you cannot see your children no more,’" Emilia said. “(I was) so nervous.”
FHP said the man in the back seat of her SUV had asked her to take him to several dark locations, and had told her "that if she ever wanted to see her children again, she must take him to a specific location on Yucatan Drive."
The man was later identified as Christopher Epperson, 20.
Emilia said she began to seek out populated places, before she saw a trooper at the FHP headquarters on Semoran Boulevard about an hour after she picked up Epperson.
"I asked the trooper, ‘You speak Spanish?’ He said, ‘Yes.” And I explained to him in Spanish," she said.
The trooper asked Epperson to get out of the SUV. Two other troopers pulled into the lot and noticed a bulge in Epperson’s pocket that looked like a gun, FHP said.
“(The Trooper) put him behind the car and checked him," she said.
Troopers said that when questioned, Epperson tried to flee.
"As they went to go ask him what was in his pocket, he tried to run," FHP spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Montes said. "They secured him and when they reached into his pockets, they pulled out a 9 mm (handgun) that was loaded. He also had duct tape and he had one glove in there."
Emilia was thankful to the troopers who saved her and said she was just happy to be OK.
“I'm so lucky because I don't know what he do. He told me, ‘Maybe you no see your family no more.’ I’m so lucky,” she said.
Epperson was arrested on charges of false imprisonment and possession of a concealed weapon.
He was booked into the Orange County Jail on $5,150 bail. He bonded out of jail Tuesday evening.
Anyone who has come in contact with Epperson in a similar situation is asked to call FHP at at 407-737-2213.
Lyft Statement:
"The safety of our community members is always our top priority and we’ve been in close touch with Emilia. We are so glad she is doing okay after this terrible ordeal and commend her bravery. We have removed the passenger’s access to the platform and are available to support the authorities."