Police are investigating after a female student at the University of Southern California was allegedly raped by her Lyft driver.
The university issued a campus-wide alert after the incident, which happened at 3 a.m. Wednesday in the 3600 block of South Grand Avenue, according to the USC Department of Public Safety. The student was returning from West Hollywood.
The driver allegedly raped her inside the car when they arrived at her apartment.
LAPD confirmed to KNX News' Craig Fiegener that this is an active investigation.
The driver’s vehicle was described as a “black sedan.” The suspect was described as being from 25 to 35 years old ‘with black hair and a black beard.”
One student told KNX News that she uses Lyft quite a bit to get around.
“I actually did go out this Halloween the night the incident happened and I did use the rideshare company,” she said. “Usually I do have male drivers for the most part. But that Halloween night, actually, [I] did have a woman driver and we were talking about how safe we felt.”
She added that she doesn’t get into a Lyft or Uber alone late at night.
Lyft sent KNX News the following statement:
"Our thoughts are with the victim and this has no place in society. Based on the information available at this time, we have not identified a report or ride matching the description and can’t confirm it involved the Lyft platform. We have reached out to law enforcement and stand ready to assist with their investigation.”
Anyone with any information was urged to call USC’S Department of Public Safety at (213) 740-6000 or the Los Angeles Police Department at (213) 485-6571.