Inset: Naziyha Weatherall (Greenville County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Officers investigate a reported stabbing along East North Street in Greenville County, South Carolina (WYFF/YouTube).
A South Carolina woman is still being held in jail after investigators said she stabbed a Lyft driver who had responded to her ride request, then drove away in his vehicle.
Naziyha Lanay Weatherall, 22, faces charges of attempted murder, carjacking resulting in bodily injury, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to Greenville County jail records reviewed by Law&Crime.
Prosecutors laid out the allegations in court this week, describing what they say unfolded before Weatherall was taken into custody.
The victim was working as a Lyft driver in Greenville County on April 22 when he received a pickup request at an apartment complex. He drove to the area of East North Street, a heavily traveled roadway in and around Greenville, and waited for the passenger.
Authorities said Weatherall then came up to the driver’s vehicle, stabbed him in the head, and stole the car.
“The victim was simply just trying to do his job and was stabbed 11 times,” the solicitor said, according to local Fox affiliate WHNS. “Not only was he stabbed 11 times, his car was then carjacked by this defendant.”
Greenville County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to the scene around 2:30 p.m. that afternoon. Authorities said they administered first aid to the rideshare driver before he was taken to a local hospital, then began investigating the reported stabbing and carjacking. Weatherall was arrested later.
The victim’s wife said her husband is still shaken by the incident.
“The alleged conduct was extremely violent,” she said, adding that he was “attacked vehemently with a knife, resulting in 11 stab wounds to multiple areas of his body.”
“What concerns us most is that happened while my husband was simply working. He was not looking for any confrontation, he was providing a service to a person,” the wife continued. “If this level of violence could happen to someone who was simply doing his job, we are concerned about potential risks to other people in our community.”
The defense, for their part, said Weatherall had no previous criminal record and was dealing with a “mental health crisis” at the time involving schizophrenia, according to WHNS. She allegedly believed she was being watched and under attack and had called a Lyft so she could get to a nearby police station and report what she believed she was going through.
“Her mother even called the police station to let them know she was on the way to make a report,” a defense attorney said. “During that, the crisis got worse. She was undergoing a delusion in which she believed she was being trafficked, and panicked, and that’s how we’re at where we’re at today.”
The judge, not for the first time, denied the defendant bond. She must undergo a psychological evaluation next month.
The post Lyft driver picking up woman at apartment complex stabbed 11 times and has his vehicle stolen as the suspect wanted to head to the police station: Cops first appeared on Law & Crime.
