Albert Boakye Lyft driver arrested in attack on Clare Dunn Nashville country singer following assault on female passenger in June. Potential dangers of using ride share apps.
A Lyft driver has been arrested for assaulting country music star Clare Dunn, after allegedly dragging the Nashville singer out of the backseat of his car and slamming her face-down in a ditch on June 26.
Albert Boakye, 46 was arrested on Monday night, following a warrant for the app driver‘s arrest. The man now faces a misdemeanor assault charge.
Boakye according to online records was booked at Davidson County Jail on Tuesday morning and later released on a $1,000 bond. Lyft said he was permanently removed as a driver, NBCNews reports.
Dunn’s alleged attacker was found by using information from her phone’s app and through a subpoena issued to the rideshare company Lyft to get the rest of the driver’s information. A check of his driver’s license number confirmed that it was the same person from Dunn’s rideshare app, according to TMZ.
The country star who is known for hits like Move On, Get Out, and Tuxedo revealed details stemming from the incident in an interview with PEOPLE last week.
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Missed turn
She said that she was out with her friends late on the evening of June 25 in Nashville.
After having dropped her friend off, Dunn requested the driver take a ‘slower route’ to her house because she wanted to avoid going on the highway. Matters soon devolved following a missed turn.
‘According to Dunn, after Boakye missed the turn, he became very angry and stopped on the side of the road where he forcibly removed her from the vehicle and then grabbed her by the neck before throwing her to the ground,’ police said.
In an interview with People, Dunn said: ‘Somehow in the scuffle, I thought I called 911, but I didn’t even get the number right. But it was a miracle. They called me back. And when I came to, I was screaming, and I saw headlights.’
The country musician sustained minor injuries, including bruises and lacerations to the head, which she posted on her Instagram page. Boakye fled the scene after the incident.
Following the incident, Dunn filed a police report. It was upon serving a subpoena to the Lyft app share service, they identified the driver.
Lyft released a statement to PEOPLE saying: ‘Safety is fundamental to Lyft. The behavior described is appalling, and we permanently removed the driver from the Lyft platform as soon as we learned of this incident.
Ensuring safety while using app riding service
‘We’ve reached out to Ms. Dunn to offer our support and are assisting law enforcement with their investigation.’
Dunn is urging Uber and Lyft passengers to take pictures of drivers’ license plates before getting in the car. She also encourages customers to get information about the driver beforehand.
Meanwhile, Dunn has returned home to her farm in Colorado as she continues to heal physically and emotionally from the assault.
‘I wake up a couple of times throughout the night thinking I heard something — like someone’s at my back door,’ she said.
‘Even just in the past year, before this whole deal happened, it felt like the world was just such a crazy, scary place in general. So being here on the farm is definitely a safe place for me right now.’
On Friday, Dunn will release her new EP, In This Kind of Light, which includes the recently released single, ‘Holding Out for a Cowboy.’
