A Lyft driver was charged with second-degree murder and other counts Wednesday after prosecutors say he lost control of his speeding car and crashed into a building in Detroit, killing two out-of-state visitors.
On Sunday, Detroit police were dispatched to a warehouse on the 6000 block of Rosa Parks Boulevard just after 10:15 a.m. for what was initially reported as a single-vehicle crash, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said. When officers arrived, they found a sport-utility vehicle driven by 40-year-old Theopris Mays of Herndon, Virginia., crashed upright into a loading dock, with both victims trapped and unresponsive.
Paramedics pronounced Andre Boynton, 60, and Carla Boynton, 57, both of Durham, N.C., dead at the scene.
Prosecutors allege Mays was driving “recklessly at a high rate of speed” when he lost control and slammed into the building, killing the Boyntons, who were passengers at the time. After the crash, investigators say Mays fled on foot but was arrested shortly after by Detroit police.
Mays has since been charged with two counts of second-degree murder, reckless driving causing death and leaving the scene of an at-fault accident causing death. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
Mays was arraigned Wednesday in 36th District Court, where a judge set a $500,000 cash or surety bond. A bond redetermination hearing is scheduled for Friday, and a probable cause conference is set for March 5.
While fatal crashes involving ride-hail drivers are rare, this case follows other troubling incidents involving Lyft and Uber drivers in Michigan.
In Lansing earlier in January, two 15-year-olds were charged in connection with a shooting that left a Lyft driver seriously injured.
Last year, police investigated an incident in Barry County where a 14-year-old girl was allegedly transported by an Uber to a home in Northville Township, where she was reportedly sexually assaulted. In 2023, a 74-year-old Uber driver was carjacked in Birmingham, and his vehicle was stolen before the suspect crashed and was arrested.