The case combines allegations of a violent rideshare carjacking with a defense claim that the passenger was experiencing severe delusions.
GREENVILLE, S.C. — A routine Lyft pickup in Greenville County has become a criminal case that places two sharply different public concerns before the same court: the safety of a driver attacked while working and the mental condition of the woman accused of stabbing him and taking his vehicle.
The April 22 encounter injured driver Sergii Savchenko and led to the arrest of Naziyha La’Nay Weatherall, 22. Months later, those same facts shaped an Aug. 28 bond hearing. Prosecutors argued that the alleged violence showed Weatherall posed an extreme danger to the community. Her defense said she had been suffering a severe psychiatric crisis, had summoned the ride because she wanted to reach a police station and should be considered for placement in a treatment facility. The judge denied bond for a second time.
Lyft’s response came early in the case and focused on the driver rather than the criminal court’s unresolved questions. The company said violence had no place in its community, that Savchenko’s well-being was its priority and that it had reached out to him and his family. Lyft also said the rider accounts involved were permanently removed from the platform and that it was assisting law enforcement. The company’s actions were administrative steps taken after the incident; they were not a determination of criminal guilt.
Savchenko’s family later put a name and history behind the driver initially described only as an injured rideshare worker. His daughter, Anastasiia Savchenko, said he drives for both Uber and Lyft and had been working for Lyft that day. She said their family are Ukrainian refugees who fled the war about four years earlier. Savchenko speaks limited English, according to his daughter, and was earning money by transporting passengers. She described the trip as beginning with an ordinary greeting before the sudden attack.
Investigators said Weatherall had requested a ride from an apartment complex in the East North Street area. Savchenko responded to the pickup. Authorities allege Weatherall stabbed him repeatedly and then took his vehicle. His daughter later said he suffered 11 wounds to his head, face and back. Prosecutors have emphasized the number of wounds in arguing against Weatherall’s release, while the defense has not disputed in public reporting that a serious attack occurred. The legal dispute concerns Weatherall’s responsibility, mental condition and pretrial custody, not whether Savchenko was injured.
The first people to respond were not company safety staff or courtroom lawyers but sheriff’s deputies. The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office said dispatchers received a report at about 2:30 p.m. from a passerby who saw a man with a visible head wound near Haywood Road and East North Street. Deputies found Savchenko and treated him. They then learned he had been working as a rideshare driver and had answered the request from the nearby apartment complex. Weatherall was located shortly afterward, according to the sheriff’s office.
Savchenko initially remained in intensive care but was reported stable. His daughter later said he spent two days in the hospital before returning home to be cared for by his wife. She said he planned to keep driving despite what happened. Anastasiia said she did not want him to return to rideshare work and believed more protections were needed for drivers. Her concern was rooted in her family’s experience rather than in a broad statistical claim about the industry, and no source reviewed for this article establishes how common attacks of this kind are.
The family’s fear became part of the August bond hearing. Savchenko’s wife appeared in his place and said he remained too emotionally and mentally shaken to attend. She told the court her husband had been doing his job and had not been seeking a confrontation. Prosecutors used the same point to argue that the alleged attack was especially alarming because it began with an ordinary service transaction. A solicitor said Savchenko had simply been working when he was stabbed 11 times and then had his vehicle taken.
Weatherall’s attorney asked the court to view the encounter through a different lens. The defense said Weatherall had diagnoses including schizophrenia and was experiencing severe delusions. According to the lawyer, she believed people were watching and listening to her and that she was under threat. She called for the Lyft, the defense said, because she wanted to go to a police station and report those fears. Her mother had even called the station to say Weatherall was on her way, according to the attorney.
The defense said the crisis became worse during the ride. Weatherall allegedly began to believe she was being trafficked and panicked, her attorney told the court. The lawyer said she had since been medicated, was stable and competent, and could be placed in a dedicated treatment facility with help from relatives and a social worker. The argument sought release under conditions centered on treatment. It did not amount to a finding that Weatherall lacked criminal responsibility, and the judge did not accept it as sufficient reason to grant bond.
Weatherall’s mother also addressed the court and apologized to Savchenko’s family. She said the allegations did not reflect the daughter she knew and asked the judge to consider Weatherall’s mental health and the defense’s statement that she had no prior criminal record. The judge nevertheless kept Weatherall in custody. Reporting on the case said competency and observation evaluations had been ordered in June, and the August ruling called for her to remain jailed pending another psychological evaluation scheduled for September.
The charges themselves underscore the seriousness of the case. Early local reports described attempted murder, armed robbery and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. Later reporting citing Greenville County jail records described the property offense as carjacking resulting in bodily injury. Because those labels have differed across reports, the most current court record would control. No reliable source reviewed for this article reports a conviction, and Weatherall remains presumed innocent.
The competing narratives at the bond hearing do not have to be reduced to a choice between concern for a victim and concern about mental illness. The prosecution’s role was to argue from the alleged violence and public-safety risk. The defense’s role was to present Weatherall’s mental condition and propose a treatment-based alternative to detention. The judge’s ruling kept her jailed, but it did not resolve the ultimate criminal charges or decide how any mental-health evidence may affect later proceedings.
That distinction is especially important because the sheriff’s office itself confirmed days after the attack that Weatherall had been experiencing a mental health episode. The official confirmation supports the existence of a mental-health issue but does not establish the defense’s full description of her delusions or determine the legal consequences. Those questions require evidence and court rulings that go beyond the information released publicly so far.
As of Oct. 17, the latest reliable public reporting reviewed for this story does not confirm the outcome of the psychological evaluation that had been scheduled for September, a later bond decision, a plea or a trial date. Savchenko survived and returned home; Weatherall remains publicly accused of serious crimes; and the case continues to sit at the intersection of two unresolved questions the court must keep separate: what happened to the driver and what the law makes of the defendant’s mental state.
Author note: Last updated October 17, 2026.