Court records describe how Phoenix medical rideshare driver was killed

A woman accused of killing her rideshare driver by repeatedly running him over with his car on Tuesday was on her way to a medical appointment before she got into a fight with her driver.

Officers responded to the area of 40th Street and Baseline Road at about 5:15 p.m. after receiving reports of a vehicle collision involving a pedestrian, according to court records.

There, they found Jordan Spalding, 31, in the driver’s seat of a vehicle stopped near a canal and Samuel Webster, 74, nearby with obvious signs of trauma, court records said. Phoenix firefighters rushed Webster to a hospital where he died.

The vehicle, a 2020 black Kia Telluride, was registered to Webster and had decals indicating it was a transport vehicle for Veyo, a rideshare service specializing in non-emergency medical transportation, court records said.

A Terros Health case manager told police that Spalding was a patient who had an appointment at their 35th Avenue and Baseline Road location, court records said.

The case manager called Spalding at around 4:40 p.m. after she was a no-show, according to court records. Spalding sounded upset, court records said, but said she would be there shortly. The case manager heard a man’s voice in the background, court records said.

The case manager waited 20 minutes before calling Spalding again, but Spalding didn’t answer, according to court records.

The case manager later told police that Spalding seemed “hysterical, crying, and screaming for help,” saying that her driver tried to sexually assault her, according to court records.

The case manager went to the last GPS location the vehicle reported and found police already at the scene.

A man told police that he saw Webster and Spalding standing outside the vehicle when Webster knocked Spalding down before falling to the ground himself, according to court records. The man told police he saw Spalding get into the vehicle and knock Webster down while running him over.

The witness then saw Spalding back the vehicle over Webster and run him over again several times, according to court records. At one point, the man said, he heard Webster yell, “Why are you doing this?” at Spalding, court records said.

Security footage from a nearby residence captured the event. The footage showed Webster trying to get away from Spalding before being struck by the car, court records said.

Spalding remained in the car until officers arrived, records said. Officers took Spalding to Phoenix police headquarters, where she consented to a sexual assault examination that found no visible injuries, court records said.

Spalding made statements inconsistent with what witnesses said and security footage captured, court records said, including that her dog got out of the vehicle and that she thought she struck her dog while Webster was hanging on to the side of the vehicle.

After investigators told Spalding that witnesses and security footage saw her strike Webster with the SUV and back over him multiple times, she became upset and asserted that wasn’t her intent, court records said.

Spalding later told investigators that she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and was using fentanyl rather than the medication she had been prescribed, according to court records.

Police booked her into jail on one count of second-degree murder. She was being held on a $1 million bond.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Veyo rideshare driver killing detailed in court records