A professional mermaid visiting New Orleans for a scuba diving expo fought off a man posing as her rideshare driver in the 1500 block of Canal Street around 5:40 a.m. Friday. She left with blunt-force trauma, a concussion and a fracture to the bridge of her nose. The attacker fled, and her wallet was gone.
Luma, who asked to be identified by her first name, had traveled from San Francisco for the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association conference, The Advocate reported. She is a former professional Muay Thai boxer, a former EMT and a domestic violence survivor. On social media she uses the name The Mermaid Atlantis. She later posted about the assault to warn people about a faux-driver scheme that has already caught other New Orleans victims.
The sedan matched. The driver did not.
Luma said she called Lyft around 5 a.m. A black sedan matching the app's description pulled up. She stepped behind the vehicle to check the license plate, but that did not get her into a verified car.
The driver tore her bag out of her hands. She threw his key fob across the street and called police while trying to keep him from leaving. She kicked him away. He punched the left side of her head. She said he fought like a brawler, repeatedly slamming her face into the concrete and jumping up and down on her head. She said PTSD triggered her fight response.
He eventually fled. She called 911. She later found her wallet missing.
A day and a half unconscious
Luma said she was unconscious at University Medical Center for a day and a half. New Orleans police, through Karen Boudrie, said they could not obtain her statement because of those injuries. For that reason, the police report is currently incomplete.
As of Tuesday, NOPD said the assailant remained at large. Luma is recuperating at home in the Bay Area. She expects it will be more than a month before she is medically cleared to dive again.
She urged NOPD to respond to her case and to others. She also said she does not blame New Orleans itself, and that she considers its people and culture beautiful.
Not the first reported pickup that wasn't one
The Advocate described the encounter as part of a little-known faux-driver scheme that has snared New Orleans victims before.
In a separate case, Andrew Elmo Price told WDSU that he set up a Lyft ride while leaving from Bourbon Street. A white four-door Kia pulled up, the driver said his name, and he got in. The man then tried to take his phone and money. Price said NOPD told him this has been happening more and more often. At the time of that report, NOPD said no arrests had been made. His advice was specific: "Check the license plate. Do the name verbal verification with your driver."
Police have also described a gunpoint robbery in the French Quarter. Yahoo News reported that a person who had requested a Lyft was waiting at a pickup spot in the 200 block of Bourbon Street just before 1 a.m. Sunday when someone posing as a rideshare driver arrived in a dark-colored sedan. Police said the suspect drove about a minute, pulled a pistol, demanded the passenger's belongings, took a phone and wallet, and forced the passenger out.
Who to call
People with information about the Canal Street attack, or about suspicious rideshare activity, can contact NOPD at 504-821-2222 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111. They can also contact the rideshare company. Luma's statement is still missing from the police report, and the man who attacked her was still at large as of Tuesday.
