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Trooper busts Charlotte Lyft driver without license

CHARLOTTE — A Charlotte woman told Channel 9 about a disturbing Lyft ride she had on New Year's Eve.

Gabby Leeper said she caught a Lyft to get to work in uptown Charlotte on New Year’s Eve morning. It didn’t take long for a state trooper to pull the driver over on the side of Interstate 485 in University City.

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"He pulled over and as soon as he rolled down the window, he says ‘I don't think I was speeding, was I?’" Leeper recalled. "The state trooper said, ‘No, you weren't speeding at all. He said, ‘You have a revoked license.’"

Leeper said the trooper said the driver’s revoked license had 12 points on it, and that he’d received a ticket eight days before that. It had also expired back in 2017.

“I’m looking at the driver, as if, like, ‘Wow,’” Leeper said.

In cellphone video shot by Leeper, the trooper can be seen handing a new ticket to the driver for the offenses. He told the driver several times that he was not allowed to drive, but then left the scene.

"I’ve got somewhere else to be in just a minute," the trooper said just before leaving. Highway Patrol confirmed to Channel 9 he was heading to a report of a collision, and that he followed protocol.

Leeper said she felt stranded.

"It was 30 degrees, 7 o’clock in the morning, and I didn't know what to do," Leeper explained.

Unable to get in touch with anyone to pick her up from the side of I-485, she said, she took the Lyft driver up on his offer to take her the rest of the way, even with the trooper’s warning.

Now, Leeper wants answers from the rideshare company. She provided Channel 9 with a receipt that shows Lyft refunded the full amount of the ride, but she wants to know how the driver was able to go unnoticed.

While that question was not answered by a Lyft spokesperson, she provided Channel 9 with a statement that reads:

The safety of our community is fundamental to Lyft, and we have permanently removed this driver from our community. We have reached out to the rider and stand ready to assist law enforcement."

“If my driver has 12 license points and has a revoked license, there needs to be some way they can prevent that driver from picking someone else up," Leeper said. "You’re not supposed to be on the road.”

According to Lyft’s website, a valid driver’s license is a requirement to drive for the rideshare company.

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