Key Takeaways
- A DoorDash driver in Martinez, GA shot a man in self-defense after being threatened and attacked during a confrontation.
- The sheriff’s office determined the driver acted appropriately and will not face charges, pending investigation findings.
- The assailant, identified as Benjamin Robert Dasher, survived surgery for three gunshot wounds and will face charges after recovery.
- Witnesses reported Dasher’s aggressive behavior before he attempted to steal the driver’s vehicle and gun.
- The incident highlights the risks gig drivers face and the importance of situational awareness in hostile encounters.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
MARTINEZ, GA — A 26-year-old DoorDash driver shot a man three times Thursday evening after the man shoved him, came back minutes later to open his car door, announced he was taking the vehicle and the driver’s gun, and then lunged through the open driver’s door, according to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office says the driver acted in self-defense and that no charges will be filed against him pending the final outcome of the investigation, as reported by WJBF.
Deputies responded to 3830 Washington Road on Oct. 8 and found a white male with multiple gunshot wounds in front of the Cho Ba Mien Asian Market at the West Town Shopping Center. According to the incident report, the DoorDash driver had parked in front of the market at approximately 5:35 p.m. Moments after he got out of his vehicle, a man confronted him and yelled at him to “buy me a 20 piece.” The driver refused. The man shoved him.
Witnesses told deputies the man had been yelling aggressively and offering people $20, though nobody could say what he wanted in return.
Minutes later, the man came back. He told the driver he was going to take his vehicle, walked to the front passenger door, and opened it. The driver was seated in the driver’s seat. He displayed a firearm, told the man he did not want any further trouble, and directed him to leave him alone.
A displayed gun and a direct warning should have ended it. Instead, the man answered that he was going to take the driver’s gun as well. He moved around the vehicle to the driver’s side. He lunged through the open driver’s door. He attacked the driver, who was still seated. The driver fired three rounds. All three struck the man.
That announcement is what matters here. This was never about a car. A man who tells you he is coming for your gun and then comes through your door to get it is not committing a theft, he is trying to disarm you, and a person who takes your firearm by force can use it on you a second later. The threat the sheriff’s office describes is to the driver’s life, not his vehicle, and the sequence shows the driver understood that. He showed the gun first. He warned the man. He fired only when the man was physically on him inside the car.
The driver’s position deserves attention too. He was seated, with the door open, the man already at the passenger side and then moving around the front of the car. There is no backing up and no creating distance from a driver’s seat with a hostile man closing on the door. Gig drivers spend entire shifts alone in parking lots, getting in and out of a vehicle with their hands full, and this is the scenario they should be thinking about. The mindset that kept this driver alive was not the Glock. It was deciding, before anyone opened his door, that he would not be dragged out of his own seat.
The man was taken to Doctors Hospital, where he was in surgery Thursday evening. On Oct. 9, the sheriff’s office identified him as Benjamin Robert Dasher, 29, of Evans. According to the sheriff’s office, Dasher allegedly began acting erratically and violently while being driven home from work and demanded to be let out of the vehicle. He was dropped off in the Walmart parking lot on Bobby Jones Expressway before the confrontation at the shopping center.
Dasher was in the ICU with three gunshot wounds from the driver’s .40-caliber Glock 27: one to the left arm, one to the lower abdomen, and one to the upper abdomen. “According to the treating physician, Dasher is expected to survive, barring complications,” the sheriff’s office said. “Investigators will interview him when his medical condition permits.”
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The sheriff’s office says Dasher will be charged with Criminal Attempt-Hijacking a Motor Vehicle when he is released from the hospital. He has not been charged yet, any charge will be an allegation, and he is presumed innocent unless convicted. The investigation remains ongoing, and the no-charges determination for the driver is tied to its final outcome.
The driver has not been publicly identified.
