HARPER WOODS, Mich. (WXYZ) — A 7-year-old student was mistakenly placed in a Lyft ride alone after summer school at a Harper Woods charter school.
ShanteJah Harmon says there was a miscommunication over who was picking up her daughter after summer school. Meanwhile, a teacher at the school with a similar first name as her daughter ordered a Lyft to get home.
Watch the video report below:
When the Lyft arrived, school staff heard the name and confused it with the name of Harmon's daughter. Harmon says they instructed her daughter to get into the Lyft car, assuming it was her ride.
“I don't order Lyft's for my daughter. My daughter has never been in Lyft's alone,” Harmon said. “You wouldn't send your child off with a stranger, so don't send mine off.”
The incident, first reported by 7 Mile Radio, occurred Friday at Chandler Park Academy near Kelly Road and 8 Mile roads.
"It's a whole process they're supposed to go through and they just skipped the complete process and just put her in a Lyft," Harmon said.
Harmon said her daughter was frightened during the unexpected ride.
"My daughter got in the Lyft, she made it all the way to the people's house, and when she got there, the Lyft (driver) was telling her to get out. She refused to get out, she was frightened, she was scared, she was crying. Once the Lyft driver noticed it, she (driver) called the school," Harmon said.
The school has placed those involved on administrative leave pending investigation.
"The safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority, and we take this matter extremely seriously. As such, we promptly contacted the family on learning of the incident and took the necessary steps to secure the safety of the student," the school said in a statement.
Harmon also questioned how her daughter was allowed to ride in the Lyft despite company policy prohibiting unaccompanied minors from using the platform.
"She don't look 18 — you can look at her and tell she's not 18. She don't even look 10. She's a small child," Harmon said.
Lyft acknowledged the incident in a statement: "We're a community that prioritizes safety, and we take reports like this extremely seriously. This was an understandably distressing incident, which we are in the process of investigating. Our initial review indicates this was the result of a miscommunication at the pickup location."
The driver quickly returned the child to the school unharmed, and she has since returned to classes.
Harmon says while the school has now implemented stricter protocols before releasing children to adults, she hopes by speaking out, it will prevent similar incidents from happening.
“I can say I see them trying to take initiative, but I feel like this should've been going on because this should have never happened,” Harmon said. "I don’t ever in my life want another child to feel like my daughter felt.”
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