Del City police arrest suspect accused of choking and attempting to rob rideshare driver

Police arrested a robbery suspect after he claimed he was attacked by a rideshare driver.

Del City police said it happened the other way around. The suspect was accused of choking the driver and trying to rob him over the weekend.

The 21-year-old suspect has been in jail since Sunday on suspicion of robbery by force or fear. Del City police released body camera footage on Tuesday showing the moments before Tyquan Jones' arrest.

Del City officials were in the area of ​​Reno Avenue and North Sooner Road when a blue SUV arrived early Sunday morning. Jones jumped out of the back seat, shirtless, and called for help.

“He just attacked me, brother, he just attacked me in his car, brother,” said suspect Tyquan Jones.

However, Jones was unable to tell officers how the Lyft driver attacked him. After speaking with the driver, police determined that it was Jones who attacked the driver during a ride to Midwest City.

“He started demanding that the driver take him to the Crest store in Reno in Midwest City so he could withdraw money and give it to him,” said Major Bradley Cowden of the Del City Police Department.

The driver told police he refused to give Jones money. When the driver did not comply with Jones' demands, the suspect allegedly tried to take his phone and search his pockets for weapons. The driver said he tried to calm Jones down and deescalate the situation.

“He reached around the front seat and grabbed him by the neck,” a Del City officer said. “He said something like, 'I'm going to strangle you,' or something like that.”

Police said the driver had strangulation marks on his neck. The driver told police he tried to alert them using the Lyft app, but Jones took his phone away.

“Every individual has to make their own decision about safety and of course not take anyone with them who they feel is not safe,” Cowden said.

The trip ended for Jones with another trip to the county jail.

The Lyft driver initially told News 9 over the phone that he did not want to report the assault, but then changed his mind and said he did not want Jones to escalate the situation and assault another driver.

Jones is being held at the Oklahoma County Detention Center on $50,000 bail. He has already been charged with auto theft in Cleveland County.