South Florida gay man claims Lyft driver pulled gun, shouted homophobic slurs

MIAMI | A South Florida gay man is claiming his Lyft driver pulled a gun on him and shouted homophobic slurs while he was on the way to a friend’s office in downtown Miami Nov. 15, according to NBC 6.

After placing two large boxes in the back seat of the Lyft driver’s car, Andres Berreondo says he sat in the passenger seat next to the driver.

“I can tell he was with an attitude, and even from the beginning with this bad energy,” Berreondo said in his interview with NBC 6.

Berreondo explained that his Lyft driver was ignoring the GPS and when he asked the driver why he wasn’t following it, the driver snapped on him.

Berreondo claims the driver pulled out a gun and told him, “I want to kill everyone that is gay.”

Berreondo says he feared for his life and called 911. After 10 minutes, the driver finally stopped the car.

“I start getting scared and somehow he stops,” Berreondo said. “He pulled me out like that and kicked me in the leg, I get out of the car.”

Berreondo says that he wanted to come forward and tell his story because he didn’t want the Lyft driver to do it to anybody else.

“What happened if it was another person? Or what would happen if right now I would be dead?” he said to NBC 6.

Lyft released a statement to NBC 6 and says that the driver has been permanently deactivated.

“The safety of our community is Lyft’s top priority, and the behavior described here is unacceptable. There is no place in the Lyft community for discrimination or violence of any kind. As soon as we were made aware of this incident, we permanently deactivated the driver. We have been in contact with the passenger to offer our full support, and stand ready to assist law enforcement with any investigation,” the statement reads.

The Miami Police Department is investigating the incident.

Image from NBC 6 video.

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