Lyft Passengers Had No Clue Who Driver Was, Till Cops Came

A Florida surgeon accused of killing a patient by taking out the wrong organ on the operating table was behind the wheel of a Lyft when deputies moved in earlier this month to arrest him. Body camera footage obtained by NBC News shows Walton County sheriff's deputies with guns drawn surrounding an SUV driven by Dr. Thomas "Jacob" Shaknovsky, 44, at a busy Miramar Beach intersection on April 13. Shaknovsky, sounding confused as he was pulled from the vehicle and cuffed, told deputies he had passengers in the back seat. Once Shaknovsky was in a patrol car, an officer informed him he was being arrested on a manslaughter charge.

Two vacationing passengers then emerged from the SUV, visibly shaken. One told deputies she initially thought they were being robbed at gunpoint as the officers approached the vehicle. One of the witnesses later shared a screenshot of Shaknovsky's Lyft profile with an attorney who represents families of former patients. The profile, under Shaknovsky's middle name, showed a five-star rating across more than 3,000 trips. Lyft said it removed him from the platform as soon as it learned of his arrest and contacted the rider to offer support.

Shaknovsky had been indicted a week earlier on a charge of second-degree manslaughter in the death of 70-year-old patient William Bryan, who died in August 2024 during a procedure meant to remove his spleen. Prosecutors say Shaknovsky instead removed Bryan's liver, causing fatal blood loss; a release notes the Alabama man died right on the operating table. Shaknovsky's Florida medical license was suspended soon after, and he later lost licenses in Alabama and New York as well.

Shaknovsky is also being sued over the 2023 death of another 70-year-old patient, Dorothy Dorsett; her family claims Shaknovsky failed to prevent Dorsett's sepsis after surgery. Shaknovsky and his attorney didn't respond to requests for comment. An arraignment is set for May 19. If convicted, Shaknovsky faces up to 15 years behind bars. More from the New York Times on what went wrong during Bryan's surgery.