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Lyft driver convicted of raping sleeping passenger in the back seat of his car

A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted Joseph Piard of rape for an attack on an unconscious woman in the back of his ride-share car in 2019, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Piard, 26, of Mattapan, who already had two other passengers, picked up the victim around 1:45 a.m. on July 31, 2019 and drove her to a Beacon Street address, but it was the wrong one, so she got back in the car - and then fell asleep and stayed asleep even as Piard delivered the other two passengers to their destinations, the DA's office says.

The next memory the victim had was waking up around 7 a.m. in an unknown area. Piard told her she had fallen asleep, and he waited until she woke up. He assured her nothing had happened. Piard then drove the victim home. The victim felt that something had happened to her. After speaking to a family member she decided to go to the hospital. She underwent a sexual assault examination and met with detectives.

After an investigation that included matching Pirard's DNA to that found in the exam, Pirard admitted to detectives he had, in fact, had sex with the sleeping woman in his back seat.

The jury did acquit him of indecent assault and battery. He is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 19, the DA's office says.

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Comments

After an investigation that included matching Pirard's DNA to that found in the exam, Pirard admitted to detectives he had, in fact, had sex with the sleeping woman in his back seat.

No, "rape" was the right term.

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Nice to see someone in the news call a spade a spade.

I remember reading a piece a while back that called Epstein's victims "child prostitutes." Makes it sound like voluntary (expletive) Moonlite Bunny Ranch.

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Exactly. It's rape and I am tired of seeing the media play it down. So sick of the misogyny.

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Uber and Lyft should be registered with Boston Police like taxi companies. In fact, even my gypsy cab guy is registered with BPD. I have several excellent cab drivers who I've trusted over the years to drive me and who I call and can count on and trust. For that reason, I tip generous cash. So do a lot of women I know who are waking up to the reality that it's not worth the risk.

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Uber and Lyft have a panic button. Taxi's don't. Yes, you can call the police, but they'll never come. Also, with Uber and Lyft you're more likely to get an accurate ID on the driver.

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Rideshare drivers have to get a TNC background check:

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/rideshare-driver-eligibility-requirements

And yeah, as another poster said, also better documentation as to who the driver is. Rideshare rides are all tracked on an app that keeps GPS data as to where the driver and the rider's mobile device is at all times. If a driver lets someone else use their car/app (which is a major offense and will get them banned and reported to authorities for fraud) and is then determined to have committed a crime, that driver has a huge amount of motivation to turn in the person, because otherwise they're most likely taking the fall.

With cabs, anyone can use anyone's cab. There's no name, no picture, no GPS tracking.

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Boston cabbies aren't required to display their taxi license photo ID in the car? They have to in NYC.

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Amazing, but the Boston Globe refuses to report this.

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Mattapan Lyft driver found guilty in 2019 rape case
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/09/21/metro/mattapan-lyft-driver-found-...

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