This story from the Windy City checks several boxes on the gun control bingo card. An employee of an anti-violence organization is accused of violently attacking a Lyft driver, and the company whose driver was allegedly victimized has a policy prohibiting its drivers from carrying firearms, even if they're legally licensed to do so.
Now, I have no idea if the driver who was allegedly victimized by Angalwon Gilmore possesses a concealed carry license or even owns a handgun. I do know, though, that if she had been armed and acted to defend herself, she'd be looking for a new gig today.
From CWB Chicago:
According to a prosecution detention petition, the chain of events began around 10 a.m. on July 20, when a Lyft account registered as “Angawon CRED” requested a ride to the 400 block of North Oakley Boulevard in West Town. A Chicago police detective knew the address to be a Chicago CRED location, prosecutors said.
Within minutes of arriving, Gilmore was captured on surveillance video flashing gang signs toward security cameras before entering the CRED center, prosecutors said.
That afternoon, the same Lyft account requested another ride for pickup at the Oakley location. This time, a 33-year-old woman arrived in her 2013 Acura, and Gilmore allegedly entered the vehicle wearing a surgical mask. She began taking him toward the requested destination in the 6600 block of South Rhodes Avenue. But as they approached the end of the ride, Gilmore began yelling at her and ordering her to change direction, prosecutors said. The driver agreed to take him wherever he wanted to go because she wanted to avoid trouble, and Gilmore continued shouting directions from the back seat.
As they arrived in the 6400 block of South Rhodes Avenue, Gilmore allegedly attacked from behind, wrapping his arm around her neck and trying to pull her into the back seat and out of the driver’s seat. The woman wedged her leg beneath the dashboard and steering wheel, bracing herself to keep from being dragged out. The choking and struggle lasted several minutes before Gilmore fled with her keys, which he had grabbed from the center console, prosecutors said.
CRED stands for Create Real Economic Destiny, and was founded a decade ago by Barack Obama's Education secretary (and former superintendent of Chicago Public Schools) Arne Duncan. Street outreach is just one part of CRED's mission, which also includes job placement, counseling, and help with obtaining a GED or a high school diploma.
I'm sure that CRED has its share of success stories, but like other community violence prevention outfits that utilize "former" gang members to serve as violence interrupters, there's no guarantee that those workers have actually left gang life behind.
According to CWB Chicago's Tim Hecke, Cook County prosecutors haven't detailed what role Gilmore plays in the organization, nor have they said if he has any previous gang affiliations or past convictions. After his arrest, I assume that Gilmore's now a former member of CRED, but maybe the organization's policy on employees getting arrested is more lenient than Lyft's policy about drivers legally carrying firearms for their protection.
There's another irony here. Chicago CRED's mission is to reduce violence in some of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods. I'm all for that, but what happened to this Lyft driver is a reminder that violence doesn't always come with a warning, and it doesn't always happen in places we associate with violent crime.
In this case, it allegedly happened in broad daylight, in the back seat of this driver's ride, and by someone who was apparently a complete stranger to the woman.
Based on CWB Chicago's report, she did everything she could to avoid a confrontation. She followed Gilmore's directions, even after he allegedly became aggressive, hoping to get through the ride without incident. That didn't stop him from allegedly trying to choke her and drag her into the back seat.
And under Lyft's rules, she wasn't allowed to have the means to defend herself with a firearm, even if she could legally carry one under Illinois law.
Would a gun would have made a difference? Drawing a firearm while someone is choking you from behind is hardly an easy proposition, and being able to fire that gun while pointing it backwards just adds to the difficulty.
Maybe it wouldn't have mattered. But maybe it would have, and it seems to me that the decision to carry a gun or not should be left to the person whose life is at risk, not rideshare company executives who aren't sitting behind the wheel.
Lyft can prohibit firearms in its vehicles. It can't stop violent criminals from getting into them, though. And when a passenger turns predator, a corporate gun-free policy isn't going to offer much protection. Drivers shouldn't have to choose between their job and their safety, but that's a decision contractors working for Lyft and Uber have to make every day.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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