Early Saturday morning, a 20-year-old named Jesse Gonzales apparently decided to open his own ride-sharing startup: Criminal Lyft. According to police, he picked up two women on Broadway after convincing them he was their Uber. Unfortunately for him—and fortunately for the rest of humanity—he immediately drove like someone who learned to operate a vehicle from GTA V.
Officers doing bar checks spotted him speeding recklessly up University. When they tried to stop him, Gonzales initiated the classic Lubbock “brief but pointless” police chase, ending near Marsha Sharp and Avenue V. Because if you’re going to get arrested, you might as well do it somewhere with good traffic visibility.
Police pulled three people out of the car: Gonzales and two terrified women who had absolutely not signed up for the “kidnapping” upgrade. The victims told officers they didn’t know the guy, he wasn’t their Uber, and the only thing they requested was a safe ride home—not a role in a true-crime reenactment.
Gonzales was booked on kidnapping, evading arrest, and reckless driving, bringing his evening to a tidy $111,500 bond. That’s one hell of a surge price.
At this point, maybe the real public service would be getting Lubbock a few more actual Uber drivers.
https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local-news/uber-driver-kidnapping-police-chase/
