Crime Stoppers Crime of the Week: Milwaukee Lyft driver armed with gun saves himself from carjacking

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A Milwaukee Lyft driver's quick thinking may have saved his life after two men tried to carjack him on Saturday night, Feb. 20. It was all caught on video you'll only see on CBS 58. 

As two passengers walked toward a Lyft driver's luxury car near 92nd and Brown Deer in Milwaukee, the driver didn't think twice. 

"I've had four years of doing this and I've had plenty pf passengers, thousands of passengers from all over the Milwaukee area, and until this incident I have never had any problems with any of them," said the Lyft driver.

Video shows a person get into the backseat, and someone else open the driver's door; two men attacked the driver holding what appeared to be a cellphone against his back -- pretending it was a gun. 

The Lyft driver said his background in martial arts immediately kicked in. 

"I didn't panic, I didn't go into a shutdown thing. I just reacted," the driver said. "I didn't know what the guy behind me had in his hand, I knew he grabbed my knife out of my pocket. So I didn't know what was next."

The Lyft driver tried to stall him by talking, until he could get to his gun hidden under the driver's seat. 

"The first guy I pulled the gun out on I had it about two feet away from his face because I had already pushed and punched him, and punched him away to back him away from the door," the driver said. "He threw his hands up in the air, started hollering and ran off."

The suspects left their car and house keys in the Lyft driver's back seat. The whole thing lasted about a minute. 

"The guy in the back, the guy in the front, neither of them had a very good plan," said the driver. 

By day he's an IT worker, but with a wife and five kids at home, he took this job four years ago to make extra money and to help people. 

"I lost a friend years ago to a drunk driver and that really impacted me quite a bit... try to help people late at night from making bad decisions which is one of the reasons I started doing this in the first place," the driver said. 

With a five-star rating, he says he wants to keep driving and hopes to let the rideshare community know about the dangers they face. 

"We just need to be more aware of our surroundings," the driver said. "I would like to see these guys obviously brought to justice and hopefully this will help accomplish that, hopefully someone will see them on camera and recognize them."

If you recognize the men in the video or know anything about this incident, you're urged to contact Milwaukee Crime Stoppers at 414-224-TIPS or use the P3 Tips App. Your anonymous tip could lead to a cash reward.