SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) -- Sioux Falls City Councilor Greg Neitzert wants to learn more about the background check Lyft uses to qualify drivers for the ride hailing service.
Neitzert thinks it's a valid question after authorities determined that the suspected terrorist in the New York City bike path massacre, had been an Uber driver in New Jersey.
"Is it a smart idea to have these companies essentially self-policing? Should we as a city be doing the background checks or doing some sort of secondary look?" asks Neitzert. Neitzert says he will be talking to other council members about his concerns.
Neitzert, himself, applied to be a Lyft driver, really just to get educated about the process. He says it took about 20 minutes, and was very easy and very streamlined.
Another qualified Lyft driver in Sioux Falls is retired businessman, Greg LaFolette, who was instrumental in encouraging the national company to get licensed in the city. LaFolette says the application process was thorough and efficient.
He thinks it's a bit unfair to single out a single background check to argue a larger problem.
"This screwball in New York did pass background checks. Just because he did something evil doesn't mean that he had done evil things before and wouldn't have passed a background check." says LaFolette.
The Lyft application process does not include fingerprints, but LaFolette doesn't see how that would really help.
"There's very little evidence that fingerprints add anything. If they did, I'm sure they would do those." LaFolette says that when he was an executive, he hired lots of people and an outside company was hired to do the background check and today's companies do the same thing.