Matthew Dunn- Texas- 2017 (CAPTURED)

(Above photo credit: Houston Chronicle website)

Fugitive Profile as of February 8th, 2020: (Based on Harris County criminal court online records search)

Full Name: Matthew William Dunn
Date of Birth: 4/30/1978
Place of Birth: Michigan
Sex: White
Race: Male
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 195 lbs
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown

From click2houston.com:

HOUSTON – A former rideshare driver barely escaped the clutches of an accused violent criminal during a ride he will never forget.

The driver, who KPRC 2 is calling John to protect his identity, was attacked in 2017 during his third Lyft ride ever and he hasn’t picked up passengers since.

John says in 2017, he was between jobs and was trying to make ends meet, so he became a rideshare driver. Late one night in July, he was leaving a friend’s house and turned on the Lyft app so he could make some quick cash.

“I got a request from this guy named Matt,” John said.

He picked up passenger named Matthew Dunn from Clicks Billiards in northwest Houston, and he says he felt something was off from the start.

“At first, he was like we are on same team, white people are hating on us, we need to do something,” said John.

John says he ignored Dunn and tried to drop him off at a motel near Highway 290 and Fairbanks North Houston Road.

“He opened his door and he was not leaving. He was just sitting there staring at me,” said John. Then chills shot down John’s spine as Dunn spoke.

“He said ‘God sent me to rip your head from your body…I want to kill all of you, you Muslim b----,’” said John.

John says that’s when things escalated.

“From the left hand he choked me and from the right hand he started slapping me, punching me on my head, scratching me from the back,” said John.

John said he was slowly losing consciousness but fought back by throwing punches. He said one blow connected with his attacker, giving him a split second to catch his breath and try and get out of the car.

“But while I was getting out the car, he grabbed my shirt from the back and he was pulling me inside,” John said. He said he charged forward, ripping his shirt in half and Dunn began chasing him. Eventually, John says he escaped.

Prosecutor Nathan Beedle said Dunn was arrested but skipped bail and has been at large ever since.

“The district attorney’s office is looking for you and we are going to get you and I am going to prosecute the case myself,” said Beedle, who is the chief of the Misdemeanor Division of the DA’s office.

“There is a hate crime enhancement in this case,” Beedle said.

www.click2houston.com/news/local/2020/02/05/find-the-fugitive-man-accused-of-hate-crime-in-beating-of-lyft-driver-at-large-for-2-years/



Thoughts? As of this posting date (2/8/2020), a search of Harris County's online records still shows Dunn as not in custody om the various charges related to this case: www.hcdistrictclerk.com/eDocs/Public/Search.aspx

I also have a few thoughts- one is that a lot of media attention on Uber/Lyft seems to be focused on passenger rideshare safety and people- the majority of whom are females- being assaulted by drivers. I have stressed it works the other way as well and more needs to be done to protect driver safety- and there are Uber amd Lyft drivers who are females (although not in this case) as well. This poor guy was just trying to earn a living and is now very understandably too traumatized to ever drive for Lyft again. I'm not blaming Lyft, but just saying we need to stress drivers being protected by from passengers as well.

My other thought is wondering why the heck Matthew was allegedly telling the driver "white people hate on us" when according to records search, Matthew is himself white. Then again, the account from the driver doesn't make Matthew sound like the sanest person, to put it mildly.

In any case, this is a very dangerous alleged suspect and according to a 2017 article, Dunn had a previous assault charge, and at least in 2017 was facing an additional assault charge from that night from a confrontation with a security officer, so we really need to locate this guy before he allegedly assaults anyone else since the next alleged victim may not be as lucky injury-wise as John was: www.khou.com/mobile/article/news/crime/man-charged-with-hate-crime-attack-on-lyft-driver/477560497

Admin Note #1: According to the above article, anyone having information on this fugitive's whereabouts should contact the Harris County (Texas) District Attorney's Office: app.dao.hctx.net/

Admin Note #2: If you have any (news-related) updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form