Atlanta officer charged with killing his Lyft driver

UNION CITY, Ga. (AP) — An Atlanta police officer who shot and killed a Lyft driver who was driving him home was arrested and charged with murder, authorities said.

Koby Minor, 34, was being held without bond after his arrest early Wednesday in Union City, an Atlanta suburb, according to Fulton County Jail records. The slain man was 35-year-old Reginald Folks, of Atlanta, the county medical examiner’s office said.

Court records didn’t list an attorney who could comment on the murder and aggravated assault charges, and attempts to find a working phone number for family members were unsuccessful.

A woman who stopped her car when she saw Minor waving for help after the shooting told Union City police Minor told her that the Lyft driver “is in a gay fraternity and was trying to recruit” him and that he thought he was being kidnapped, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by WSB-TV.

Minor told police that he called for a Lyft as he was leaving an Atlanta police officer’s home early Wednesday morning. As they traveled down a road, Folks began speaking on the phone in a language Minor didn’t understand, he told police.

Minor said he asked Folks to stop so he could get out of the car and then tried to get out at a red light, but the door was locked and wouldn’t open, the television station reported.

Minor told police he didn’t know if the driver was gay but shot him about three times when Folks reached into the back seat. After shooting Folks, Minor broke a window and exited the vehicle.

Minor was on unpaid leave at the time after an arrest on drug charges on Christmas Day last year. Minor had worked for the Atlanta Police Department since 2018 and on Wednesday submitted his immediate resignation.