A lawsuit against Dallas Area Rapid Transit claims the agency failed to prevent a driver from sexually assaulting a disabled woman. Now, DART is trying to dismiss the case.
The Garland Police Department arrested Samson Lemma, a DART “paratransit” driver, in 2022 after he allegedly sexually assaulted a female passenger with a “mental disability.” The victim sued DART and its former partner, MV Transportation, claiming they failed to protect disabled passengers from assault.
DART and MV Transportation filed motions in May to dismiss the victim’s claims, according to attorney Lacey Turley Most, who is representing the victim’s family.
In the motions, obtained by The Dallas Express, the defendants claim that plaintiffs don’t assert claims for which “relief can be granted even if the facts alleged are taken as true.”
Most told The Dallas Express these motions have not yet been scheduled for a hearing. She said a similar assault took place just months earlier, and DART failed to take preventive measures.
“What’s particularly infuriating for us is that this has happened more than it should,” Most said. “There was another sexual assault by another driver, of another mentally disabled woman who was in his vehicle, and that entire assault was caught on camera. So, within just six months to have this happen again, and have time to make changes and not do that, it’s inexcusable.”
Jasmyn Carter, DART’s director of public relations, told The Dallas Express that DART “cannot comment on ongoing or pending litigation.”
“Safety is a high priority,” the statement reads. “DART provides paratransit services for disabled passengers through independent contractors that are obligated to comply with all applicable local, state, and federal regulations.”
The Assault
Lemma “sexually assaulted” a young disabled woman – “Jane Doe” – on June 6, 2022, according to a complaint obtained by The Dallas Express. Before assaulting her, the driver allegedly “groomed” her.
During a trip on May 11, 2022, Lemma reportedly took the victim one-on-one to Walmart to buy ice cream, gave her his personal cell phone number, and told her he loved her.
“GPS and dispatch data show that he drove through shopping center parking lots, idled on a residential street, and made an unscheduled stop at a Walmart before ultimately dropping Doe off at her home,” the complaint reads.
The victim’s parents “correctly identified it as grooming and inappropriate,” according to Most.
“They called DART the same day that it happened, reported it, and requested that this individual no longer drive their daughter. And DART apologized and said he wasn’t going to drive her anymore,” Most said. “Then a few weeks later, he was assigned to drive her again.”
According to the complaint, the victim boarded her DART ride at 9 a.m. on June 6, 2022, planning to work at Lowe’s. However, Lemma was driving the vehicle.
“During this ride, Lemma sexually assaulted Jane Doe while she was alone and dependent on him for transportation,” the complaint reads. He reportedly reached under her clothing, groping her breasts and genitals.
“Due to her intellectual disability, she lacked the capacity to understand or resist Lemma’s actions,” the complaint reads.
According to Most, a surveillance camera was facing the passenger compartment at the time, but Lemma blocked it.
“There’s footage of the driver taking a Band-Aid off his hand and placing the Band-Aid over the camera,” she said.
Lemma drove the victim multiple times, according to Most – the first two trips with others, and the last two alone with the victim. The Garland Police Department arrested him for aggravated sexual assault of a disabled person, and he is now a registered sex offender.
Previous Allegations
DART and similar services have been fraught with assault allegations in the past.
Before Lemma’s alleged assault, another driver, Mohammad Ansari, with MV Transportation subcontractor Irving Holdings, assaulted a disabled woman with the “cognitive ability” of a 6-year-old in December 2021.
According to the complaint, Ansari began by flattering the victim, “Mary Roe. ” He kept talking to her, but stopped when other passengers entered the vehicle. He was supposed to drop Roe off first, but he “deviated from his route” and dropped off others first.
Then, he drove to a “remote location” and pulled “to the side of the road.” He asked to see a dog bite on her stomach that she had previously mentioned. She showed him her stomach, and he kept asking for more—and more—and more.
Ansari molested her, groping her breasts and genitals. He tried to block surveillance footage with a sun visor, but it still captured the attack. According to the complaint, he said, this is “a secret between you and me, right?”
Roe didn’t respond. When Ansari dropped her off at home, he said, “I hope we can still be friends.”
Ansari faced a felony warrant, and he apparently tried to flee the country for Dubai when Customs and Border Protection arrested him at the DFW International Airport. According to the complaint, he ultimately pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault. He is now a registered sex offender.
“Mentally disabled women have a much higher risk of sexual assault than other people in the population, and I think it’s also more likely to be underreported,” Most said.
The complaint listed numerous similar assaults, several of which took place in Texas or under DART.
Arturo Garcia Ortiz, a driver for Capital Metro in Austin, faced charges in 2014 for sexually assaulting a passenger. According to the complaint, he picked up a “disabled woman,” dropped off other passengers, then pulled into a parking lot where he allegedly “raped” her. According to the Austin American-Statesman, Ortiz told a company official at the time, “he only hugged the girl that morning but he was interested in being intimate.” He is now a registered sex offender for attempted aggravated sexual assault.
DART driver Cedrick Agent was accused of raping a disabled woman, age 37, twice on a “paratransit” bus in September 2013. He denied the attack, according to the Dallas Observer, and “investigative results could not confirm the allegations.” Agent is not currently a registered sex offender.
DART “paratransit drivers” allegedly sexually assaulted a “mentally disabled” woman multiple times in 2011. According to Fox 4, police arrested two drivers after an investigation, and they were each charged with aggravated sexual assault of a disabled person.
“These incidents, spanning more than a decade, followed a common pattern: one-on-one paratransit rides between male drivers and intellectually disabled women, often involving grooming behavior, route deviations, or lack of supervision,” the complaint reads.
Most said transportation providers could take measures to respond to route deviations, schedule routes so disabled women aren’t alone with a driver, or increase live supervision.
“A simple change that would have made all the difference here is if a parent comes forward and says, ‘This driver is grooming my daughter, this is inappropriate,’ believe them,” Most said. “Make a change, don’t let that driver be around that individual again.”
The most important thing is to recognize the prevalence of this problem, according to Most.
“It’s a real problem that disabled persons face,” Most said. “It’s often not a stranger in an alley. It’s usually people who are assigned to take care of them and to help them, which makes it all the worse.”