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Lyft Driver Arrested for Driving With 17 License Suspensions, Police Say

He was scheduled to be arraigned on Sunday at Suffolk County District Court

A man who told police he was driving for Lyft was arrested Saturday on Long Island, New York, after a check of his driver's license revealed it had been suspended 17 times, NBC News reports.

Leith Crossen, 57, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, was in a Volkswagen Jetta near Cold Spring Harbor train station when an officer responding to a 911 call of a possible intoxicated driver found him stopped in the car at about 9:35 p.m., Suffolk County police said.

Crossen was not intoxicated and had run out of gas after dropping off a passenger, police said. A check of his driver's license showed it had been suspended 17 times, according to police. Crossen was charged with first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, a felony.

Lyft told NBC News on Sunday that Crossen was not dropping off a Lyft passenger before his arrest and that he passed a background and Department of Motor Vehicle check in March. "The driver's license this individual provided when applying to drive with Lyft did not show any disqualifying driving records," a spokeswoman said. "He has not driven on the Lyft platform since April and is permanently banned from driving with Lyft."

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