Cop-Hating Portland Commissioner Apologizes For Her Behavior In a Lyft. Just Kidding, She Blamed 'White Supremacists'

This may come as a shock to you, dear reader, but cop-hating Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty has failed to take responsibility for her awful behavior towards a Lyft driver.

I’ll give you a moment to recover.

Last week, it came to light that Hardesty had been verbally abusive to her Lyft driver on a trip home from ilani Casino Resort on November 1, to the point the driver canceled the ride and dropped her off at a gas station to order another Lyft. In response, Hardesty called 911.

Cop-Hating Portland City Commissioner Calls Police on Her Lyft Driver

Hardesty, facing mounting criticism for not addressing the situation, finally spoke during a Zoom meeting of the Portland City Council.

“I didn’t expect the Lyft driver to do it. Certainly didn’t expect the place to do it. It was my responsibility to make sure I got home safe and I did everything I could to get home safe. Where you’re living in a city where white supremist [sic] are proudly riding around in their big trucks with their flags. And you’re a black person. Does somebody wants to sit on the side of the road at night? Not going to happen.”

Remember, Hardesty became verbally abusive to her driver when she failed to show up at the designated pickup spot at the casino. The Lyft driver sacrificed over an hour of his time for no pay trying to accommodate her special needs. Hardesty insisted that the driver close the windows, in contradiction of Lyft’s COVID-19 recommendations for driver and rider safety.

As I wrote last week,

Lyft’s terms of service and local laws back up the statement that this is the driver’s personal vehicle, and he gets to set the rules. Apparently, Hardesty was initially set off because she was not at the designated pickup location that the casino sets up for rideshare pickups to avoid confusion and traffic. The driver called her to figure out where to pick her up, drove to her location, and started the ride. This, after a 25-minute pickup time after the driver dropped off his previous passenger.

The driver said Hardesty was abusive from the moment she got in the car. He told OregonLive,

Once in his car, Hardesty was perturbed that he had trouble finding her, he said. He grabbed his phone from the bindle on his dashboard and showed her where the pin drop indicated her location, but that didn’t seem to assuage her displeasure, he said.

“I just wanted to calm her down, make her understand that I’m not a rookie. I know what I’m doing. She didn’t want to hear any of that. She just wasn’t happy with that.”

As he started to drive out of the casino’s lot, Hardesty told him that he needed to roll up the windows, that she couldn’t ride with them down.

The car windows on the front driver’s side and front passenger’s side were cracked open to allow for air circulation as a safeguard due to the coronavirus pandemic, he said. According to Lyft’s website, the company’s new rules for the road during the pandemic recommend keeping the car windows open.

That set Hardesty off even worse. She demanded that the driver roll up the windows, COVID be damned. The driver says Hardesty went ballistic at this point.

Hardesty, not known for her gracious or humble personality, continues to refuse to take personal responsibility. Instead, she imagines white supremacist boogeymen around every corner.

Final note: Hardesty once again failed to take the opportunity to publicly thank the police officers who saved her from that nightmare ride.

Editor’s Note: Want to support PJ Media so we can keep telling the truth about the riots and attacks on law enforcement? Join PJ Media VIP and use the promo code LAWANDORDER for 25% off your VIP membership.

Jeff Reynolds is the author of the book, “Behind the Curtain: Inside the Network of Progressive Billionaires and Their Campaign to Undermine Democracy,” available at www.WhoOwnsTheDems.com. Jeff hosts a podcast at anchor.fm/BehindTheCurtain. You can follow him on Twitter @ChargerJeff, and on Parler at @RealJeffReynolds.