ST. GEORGE — A woman who police say became irritated with her ride-share driver because he didn’t take the route she wanted was arrested Thursday and accused of grabbing the steering wheel while he was driving.
The 58-year-old woman was arrested for investigation of misdemeanor criminal mischief.
The investigation began about 1 p.m. when the Utah Highway Patrol responded to a disorderly conduct incident on I-15.
“The caller, a Lyft driver, was pulled over stating an irate female passenger was causing a disturbance and attempting to jump out of the vehicle,” a police booking affidavit states.
A trooper arrived to find the driver and a woman standing on the shoulder of the freeway.
“The parties had been separated by a sheriff’s deputy shortly before I arrived. (The woman) told me the Lyft driver had been driving too slow and had been refusing to use the particular route she wanted to use to get to her destination,” the affidavit states.
The trooper wrote that the woman was agitated and “overly talkative and appeared to be going through mood swings.”
The Lyft driver claimed that at one point, the woman had grabbed his steering wheel while she was in the back seat and he was driving, and then tried to take the key out of the ignition.
“The driver was crying and shaking and clearly distraught. He stated he was willing to testify that she had grabbed the steering wheel and endangered his life,” according to the affidavit.
After both parties were questioned, the woman was booked into jail.
