Austin Driver Arrested For Kidnapping, Attempted Sexual Assault

AUSTIN, TX — Austin police have arrested a man accused of posing as a ride share driver and allegedly trying to sexually assault two of his intoxicated passengers.

Police provided details of the case during a July 3 press conference, saying the incidents date to early June. In each case, two women entered the car driven by Daniel Kifle, 45, after he showed up to give them a drive. In both cases, Kifle is accused of driving off with one of the women as the friend exits the car to help her drunken friend out of the vehicle.

The June 3 incident occurred in South Austin after two women got into a black SUV they believed was their ride share picking them up from a bar on West 6th Street, police said. The victim told police the driver drove them to their destination before the drive sped off with the intoxicated female passenger still in the car. The woman left behind called police to identify the man to police, officials said.

The near-exact scenario occurred on June 9 in North Austin, where two women were taken after also being picked up outside a West 6th Street bar, according to police. One of the women had fallen asleep in the backseat of the vehicle, and the driver sped off as her friend exited the car to open the other passenger side door to retrieve her, police said. Again, the driver sped off with the passed-out woman still in the backseat, police said, knocking the other woman to the ground.

When the woman in the back seat came to, she described later to police that she awoke in the front passenger seat at a parking lot that was not familiar to her, police said. The victim told police the man tried to put his hands down the woman's pants before the woman pushed him away while demanding to be taken home, according to the police account. When the driver came to a stop sign, the woman escaped from the vehicle and called police.

During the press conference, an officer said a third, similar, incident occurred June 11 in Lakeway.

Police at the press conference said they reached out to Lyft and Uber to secure driver coordinates as part of their investigation. But police noted Kifle was not acting in an official capacity as a ride share driver at the times of the pickups, although he did have an account to operate as a ride share driver, the officer said.

The incidents prompted Lyft to release a prepared statement on Tuesday afternoon:

"The situations being described are truly frightening. Our thoughts are with the victims of these senseless acts. These rides did not happen on the Lyft platform, but we have been assisting law enforcement with their investigation and will continue to do so moving forward."

In light of the incidents, police urge ride share customers to make sure the vehicle arriving to pick them up matches the description provided by the firm in the app.

According to Travis County Jail records, Kifle is being held on charges of kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping and attempted sexual assault, with bail collectively set at $500,000.

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