Boston Uber Driver Accused Of Raping Drunk Passenger: Police

BOSTON, MA — Police arrested an Everett man accused of raping a drunk woman after picking her up in his rideshare car in Boston early Sunday morning.

Boston Police officers arrested 26-year-old Ranjan Thapa and charged him with rape.

"What police describe is deeply troubling. The driver has been removed from the app, and we stand ready to assist Boston PD with their investigation," said an Uber spokesperson in an email to Patch.

Lyft did not immediately respond to request for comment Sunday evening.

Northeastern University Police, which had set up checkpoints for the Saint Patrick's Day weekend, someone noticed a man driving a woman in her 20s acting strange. University police pulled over the car at a Hemenway Street checkpoint and saw something that made them believe the woman may have been sexually assaulted.

They called in a report of sexual assault to Boston Police about 1 a.m. Sunday, and officers from the South End came to the same conclusion. The woman was transported to the hospital for treatment. Follow-up investigation by the Boston Police Sexual Assault Unit enabled detectives to arrest and charge the operator, according to police.

Thapa is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Roxbury District Court.

Previously on Patch:

• Uber Driver Arrested for Alleged Sexual Assault of Passenger
• Uber Driver Charged With Sex Assault of Passenger
• Uber Driver Rape, Gulf Gas Station Robbery Indictments: DA
• Uber Driver Nearly Crashes Into Dunkin Donuts In Front Of Chief: Police

This isn't the first time a ride-share company in the Boston area has had employees accused of sexually assaulting a passenger. Last year, Luis Baez, 34, of Boston was arraigned in Newton on three counts of rape. In a separate incident Kastriot Naksi, 46, of West Roxbury was accused of sexually assaulting and kidnapping a woman while driving for Uber in Quincy. A year before that, a Brockton Uber driver was accused.

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Hundreds of sexual assaults related to rideshare drivers have been reported since 2013, according to the Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit advocacy group Who's Driving You.

The 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey data for Massachusetts residents surveyed was similar to the national data. Nearly 1 in 2 women and 1 in 4 men in Massachusetts have experienced sexual violence victimization other than rape. Nearly 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men in Massachusetts have experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lives. More than 1 in 7 women have experienced rape, according to, sexual violence coalition Jane Doe.

• One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college. (National Sexual Violence Resource Center)
• About one in three women and one in six men in the United States have experienced some form of contact sexual violence during their lifetime. Nearly one in five women (18.3%) and one in 71 men (1.4%) in the United States have been raped at some time in their lives. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey)

If you're a victim of a sexual assault that has or has not been reported to police and would feel more comfortable seeking confidential advice from a non-law enforcement agency or representative, the Boston Police Department advises and encourages you to call the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) at 1 (800) 841-8371. BARCC provides free and confidential counseling, case management, legal and medical advocacy services to survivors in the greater Boston area. To learn more about BARCC, please click on www.barcc.org.

Police ask anyone with information about Sunday's incident to call 617-343-4400, or anonymously call 1-800-494-TIPS or text TIP to (CRIME) 27463.

Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch

How Uber responds.