A female Uber driver who said she was raped by a passenger in January testified on Tuesday that the ordeal "seemed like it lasted forever."
General Sessions Court Judge Alex McVeagh bound charges against Zachary Johnson to the Grand Jury after the preliminary hearing.
Johnson is charged with aggravated sexual battery, aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated sexual assault.
A carjacking charge was dropped.
The driver had stopped by a Chili’s to pick up a female passenger, but when she arrived, she realized the Chili’s employee had paid for a ride for Johnson, who the employee said was intoxicated.
The driver said after a point in the ride, Johnson wrapped his arm around her neck as she was driving and told her he was going to rape her. She turned into a cul-de-sac on Pebble Creek Road and was trapped there for over an hour.
She called her boyfriend, and he called 911 as well. Law enforcement was able to listen to the assault. However, it took multiple law enforcement agencies an hour and a half to locate her.
A sheriff’s department investigator also testified, his testimony bookending the playback of an hour and a half long recording of a phone call. In this phone call, various law enforcement agencies attempted to ping the phone to find her location as they could hear Johnson and the female driver in the background.
“It sounds like she’s being sexually assaulted,” one person on the line could be heard saying. “He is telling her to touch him, and she is saying no.”
Throughout the recording, the victim could be heard saying “no” as Johnson tried to force her to perform sexual acts. The victim told the court that he touched her genitals, and the investigator later said the victim had a vaginal laceration when examined by medical professionals. Johnson was heard calling the victim “mama” over 60 times in the recording.
Law enforcement spent an hour and a half trying to find where the victim was, and tried to get in contact with Uber for assistance. Law enforcement eventually found the vehicle, and both the driver and Johnson were still inside. Johnson was taken into custody.
“Later on, there will be evidence collected from Uber,” the investigator said. “The front of the car was in disarray, and there were obvious signs of a struggle.”
Judge McVeigh granted a continuance for a bond hearing that will occur on Thursday morning. The bond is currently set at $450,000, but prosecutor Cameron Williams is seeking to increase it because of Johnson’s prior felony convictions.