Transgender Lyft Driver Talks About Last Week’s Attack

Picture courtesy of KGW

Portland, Or. –  Marla Standing-Owl tells KGW TV she will never drive for Lyft again after she was attacked by a passenger last Friday night. She says “psychologically, its more damaging than physically. It’s just an assault, its an attack you don’t know what someone’s going to do to you.”

Portland Police are investigating the assault as a bias crime.

Standing-Owl says she picked up the male passenger at the Duniway Hotel in downtown Portland late Friday night. She says he told her she was nothing but a man and she said she didn’t need bigotry in her car. She claims that’s when he repeatedly hit her neck and head. She stopped the car and pepper sprayed him. He took off running and police have yet to find him.