MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Police have arrested a woman who they said attacked a passenger inside a Lyft ride and yelled gay slurs toward him.
According to an arrest report, 24-year-old Sherry Moody was intoxicated and became angry when the Lyft driver refused to go through a drive-thru for food, Jan. 26.
Once the driver picked up the victim, 57-year-old Jose Gonzalez, from Twist night club, police said, Moody yelled gay slurs.
When Gonzalez responded, he said, that’s when Moody began to beat him with a cellphone and then her high heel shoe, all inside their shared Lyft vehicle.
“It was a beating, it was close contact within a vehicle where he was in the front seat, and she was in the back seat and started just beating him with her high heel,” said Miami Beach Police Officer Ernesto Rodriguez.
Police added that Moody then kicked Gonzalez in the head with a high heel shoe.
“When I saw the blood, I start screaming, ‘I’m bleeding, I’m bleeding,'” Gonzalez said.
Moody surrendered to police at the Miami Beach Police Department and was given a felony battery charge with a $5,000 bond.
“After negotiations with our detectives and her attorney, she surrendered this morning,” said Rodriguez.
She spent less than eight hours behind bars and was released Thursday evening.
Gonzalez and his attorney announced, Wednesday, that they will be filing a lawsuit against Moody and Lyft.
“The fact of the matter is, once the attack happened, the driver had the ability to mitigate the damages,” said attorney Reynaldo Martinez. “He could have stopped the vehicle immediately and allowed Jose out of the vehicle, he could have called the police, which he did not.”
According to the police report, the Lyft driver pulled over and removed Moody and her friend from the vehicle. The driver then proceeded to take Gonzalez home.
Lyft has released a statement that read in part, “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 immediately deactivated the individual accused of this behavior.”
Gonzalez’s attorney has called this incident a hate crime. “It’s about Jose, it’s about protecting the LGBTQ community, but it’s about protecting everybody who gets inside one of those vehicles,” Martinez said.
Police said the attack was unprovoked, and the case has been referred to the State Attorney’s Office to determine whether a hate crime will be added to Moody’s charges.
Gonzalez said he hopes that Moody has learned her lesson. “It’s not that much love that she has, and I feel sorry for her,” he said.
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