DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida mother who drives for Uber found herself in a fight for survival after, she said, she picked up a passenger who stabbed her repeatedly with a steak knife.
Shortly after she walked out of the hospital, Friday morning, Britteny Evans showed 7News her bandaged right arm, bloodstained clothes and other cuts she suffered during the late night encounter.
“After I’d just made a delivery, Uber gave me a ping to go by Mizner Park to pick up a guy,” she said.
The passenger, later identified as 25-year-old Jonathan Hartman, was wearing a hoodie and sat in the backseat after Evans picked him up at around midnight on Friday.
Like many Uber passengers, Hartman began with friendly conversation.
“He was asking me what school I go to, he was asking me if I was a single mom, how many nights do I Uber,” she said.
Evans, a single mother who drives for Uber to pay for college and her 8-year-old child, said the drive almost killed her.
“He punched over from the backseat to the front with the steak knife and put it up to my neck, and he said that he was going to kill me. He said that he was going to make my son an orphan,” she said. “He said that he was going to hijack the car, and he said, ‘I only wanted to kill you; that’s the only reason why I got in the Uber.'”
Evans said the passenger then became ruthless with his weapon.
“When he put the steak knife up to my neck, he realized it was on the dull side pushing into my neck, so when I grabbed, he kept trying to turn it to actually cut me,” she said. “I was screaming at the top of my lungs, and I was crying, and I said, ‘Not today.'”
Evans said she began to fight back and stopped her car along the 400 block of Federal Highway in Deerfield Beach.
“He stabbed me so many times. I was just like, ‘Oh, God, I’m gonna die right here,'” she said.
The victim said people just kept driving, until a woman stopped and saved her life.
“Whoever she is, I just want to tell her thank you, because she’s the only car that stopped for me, and she stayed until the police came,” she said, “and I don’t know her name, but I just want to give her the biggest hug and thank you, because if she didn’t stop, this guy would definitely – he would have killed me.”
Evans said she’s grateful for the good Samaritan, and she’s grateful she’s alive, but she’s unsure as to what she’ll do next.
“He basically took my bread and butter away from me, and I don’t know where I’m going to go from here,” she said.
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the scene and arrested Hartman. He faces a list of charges, including aggravated battery, carjacking and false imprisonment.
Evans has set up a GoFundMe page to help with expenses. If you would like to make a donation, click here.
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