WASHINGTON — Two rideshare app drivers had their cars stolen outside Union Station, within just four days of each other.
It's not the way Jessie Sethi says she had planned to spend the first day of 2024.
"Here I come home to my home and at Union Station at 7 o'clock in the evening this is happening," said Sethi.
Sethi says she and her husband had spent New Year's Eve in Times Square watching the ball drop. On New Year's Day, they took the train back to D.C. and ordered a Lyft to get them home to Bethesda.
The driver arrived and got out of the car to help them put their luggage in the trunk.
"I went on the passenger side I was opening the door to get in the car and all of a sudden I felt the car moving," said Sethi.
She told WUSA9 she saw the driver run up to the driver's side of the car and try to grab a person, who she described as a young man, who had jumped in the front seat.
He yelled "Hey hey that's my car, but the guy just drove off," said Sethi.
Luckily, the car was found by DC police a few days later, and she told WUSA9 that her luggage was returned to her.
Unfortunately, the same thing happened to another Lyft driver who was picking up a passenger at Union Station a few days later.
WUSA9 spoke exclusively with Carlos, who had his car stolen while working as a rideshare driver outside of Union Station on January 4.
Carlos, who asked WUSA9 not to use his full name out of concern for his safety, said he had just pulled up to Union Station to pick up a passenger and got out of the car to try and help her put her luggage in the trunk.
Thursday night, he told WUSA9 he still hasn't gotten his car back, or the money that was inside.
He's been through a lot in the past year. In March he battled some serious health issues. In August, part of his finger had to be amputated after an accident while working outside, ending his decades-long career in the healthcare industry, where he mostly worked with the elderly and people with disabilities.
He told WUSA9 he is incredibly grateful to the people who've donated more than $3,000 through a GoFundMe Page to help him get back on his feet.
As for Sethi, she says the people doing this to these drivers need to be held accountable. She told WUSA9 it was terrifying and unfair because these drivers were just trying to help passengers like her.
"It may be too much to say turn the car off, take the key out because they're coming out for a very short time, but all this is happening right now, so maybe we need to do that for right now," she said.
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