Lyft Driver and Family Seeks Justice and Peace

Co-organized

Elise Lewis and Ethan Charman are organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Monday night I was arrested on a drug possession charge. I am a Lyft driver who went out for 2 hours prior to my arrest, after which I grabbed pizza for my kid and brought it home then went back out to pick up my friend from work. I was pulled over less than a mile from my home.

A deputy from Berkeley County Sheriffs Department pulled me over for my headlight being out, and I said I could go right home from picking up my friend and fix it in the morning. The deputy looked in my backseat and spotted a pill stuck between two cushions which he asked me about. I did not know that was there and I had no idea what it was. I hadn’t noticed it after my earlier rides. I also explained to him that I am a Lyft driver and had been out shortly before he pulled me over.

This pill was field tested and from what I could tell the tests were yellow/very pale orange but the arresting cop told me it was positive for fentanyl. I was terrified and thankful for his sharp eye, what if my daughter had found that pill? I explained to him that I can show him my Lyft rides and the time frame from when I was out to help him find the people behind this.

The arresting deputy was very rude to me this entire endeavor. When I told him I was nervous he asked me why and treated me like I had no right to be upset, I had also explained to him that I was having a panic attack from the entire interaction and he told me that it was unnecessary. Another male officer at the scene during my arrest proceeded to pat me down. At this point I was crying heavily and completely freaking out profusely telling them it’s not mine and I didn’t know it was there as well as panicking saying I have a child.

I was not allowed to call my husband to tell him what was going on and he told me I was not allowed to make calls because he didn’t need people showing up to “make a scene” I had already called my friend at this time to tell her I was pulled over and couldn’t get her to which he had me put my phone on speaker. He told me he would call my husband and didn’t, my husband didn’t find out what was happening until he located my phone at the detention center and began making calls. Only after my husband insisted on speaking with the arresting officer did he finally call him and tell him what happened, talking down to him and being rude to him throughout their conversation.

In the detention center I immediately told them to drug test me which they refused, I told them I have absent seizures and they did not keep a close eye on me or allow my husband to explain this, in fact they would not speak or hear him at all even though I told them to tell him everything. I had asked for a drug test 2 more times as well. In this holding block I slept on the floor with only a thin mat and a blanket that had holes (it was very hard to keep warm if at all) and while in there I was not checked on but at times when they brought in meals or brought in more women.

This entire time I was treated like I was a criminal who deserved this. They cancelled 2pm bond hearings so my hearing wasn’t until 6:30pm where they gave me a ten thousand dollar surety bond instead of a PR bond which was very strange to me considering this was the first time I had ever been in any kind of trouble in my life and was very compliant through this entire hellish ordeal. Because they waited to give me a bond hearing until 6:30 even though my mother was waiting ready to help there was no way to get me out that night. She paid a bail bondsman a thousand dollars so that I could be released the next day.

At this point, I was begging to go home and questioning what I ever did to deserve this and above all I was desperately missing my 3 year old daughter. By the time I was released it was about noon, it had been about thirty six hours and I had no way of telling what time it was the entire time I was there and could only try to sleep most of this time. My husband had to pay over three hundred dollars in fees to the towing company to get my car back.

I am home now and trying to feel normal again, trying to feel like I am actually home and trying to stay strong through this entire event and keep my head high enough to get these outrageous charges dropped and my name cleared.

I am an innocent woman, I have never been in any trouble prior to this and I am scared. The best reasonable deal on a good lawyer my husband could find is two thousand and five hundred dollars up front and another five thousand over the next six months. I am humbly asking for help to pay for my lawyer, the bail bondsman, the towing fee, and the loss of income over the next month while my husband and I look for other work.

The county will not reimburse us for any of this and we are going into tremendous debt and relying on the generosity of our friends and family to get through this process so I have created a go fund me for anyone who feels the desire to help. If you can’t help financially I ask that you please share this everywhere, and I ask that you call your local Berkeley County and South Carolina representatives and tell them about this. I ask that you do whatever you can to help me make my case known and help stop this from happening to more and more people. I am incredibly embarrassed that I even have to ask this from any of you and shocked that this is even happening. Please help in any way you can.