A 75-year-old Michigan veteran is fighting for his life after allegedly being punched into a coma by a DoorDash driver who police say attacked him for asking the driver to slow down in their neighborhood.
Lloyd Poole was standing at the end of his driveway in Wixom — about 30 miles outside Detroit — on Dec. 28 when he approached a delivery driver he believed was speeding through the residential area, according to WXYZ.
That brief encounter quickly turned violent.
Police say the driver, identified as Ryan Turner, got out of his vehicle and punched Poole in the head, knocking the elderly man to the ground. Poole never got back up.
“My dad fell. Never got up. Never moved,” Poole’s daughter, Jen Shaw, told the station. “And the DoorDash driver got back in his vehicle and drove away.”
Poole was rushed to the hospital with severe head trauma and underwent emergency surgery to relieve swelling in his brain — a procedure that required doctors to remove part of his skull. He has remained in a coma ever since.
“He’s not responding. He can’t talk. He’s not awake,” Shaw said. “We don’t know when he’s going to get out of this hospital bed. That may never happen.”
Turner, 40, later turned himself in to the Wixom Police Department and admitted to striking Poole and leaving the scene, according to law enforcement. Turner claimed he felt threatened during the confrontation but acknowledged driving away after Poole collapsed.
He was arrested and booked into the Oakland County Jail, where he was charged with aggravated assault. Turner posted a $35,000 bond on Jan. 1.
Court records show Turner previously faced assault and battery charges in 2022 that were later reduced, along with prior driving-related offenses, including driving with a suspended or invalid license.
Following the incident, DoorDash condemned the alleged attack in a statement, calling it “absolutely appalling and unacceptable.”
“DoorDash has zero tolerance for violence, and we have permanently removed the individual’s access to the platform,” a spokesperson said. “We are working with local law enforcement to support their investigation to ensure justice is served.”
Poole’s family says removing Turner from DoorDash is not enough. His stepdaughter, Lindsey Gonzalez, told Fox 2 Detroit the family fears Turner could still work for other delivery services and remains close to their home.
“It’s scary that he’s out walking around,” Gonzalez said. “I want everybody in the public to know his face and stay away from him.”
The family is also pushing to tighten Turner’s bond conditions to keep him away from Poole’s wife and their residence.
As Poole remains unconscious, family members have been rotating shifts at the hospital, clinging to hope while facing an uncertain future.
“You just don’t know with the brain,” Shaw said. “We’re really worried.”
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The company that hired this idiot should be charged
Is this guy serious that he felt threatened? While being in his car and could have just driven away not to mention you’re 40 and he’s 75. Since he has a history of this he should have no bail, so sick of judges letting garbage like this out to hurt more people.