A 58-year-old rideshare driver accused of raping his passenger has been released from the Thurston County jail after posting a $100,000 bail bond.
Ahmed Hassan Ali of Seattle posted bond on Monday. Judge John Skinder set the bail amount earlier that day in Thurston County Superior Court.
The Prosecuting Attorney's Office charged Ali on Tuesday with second-degree rape and first-degree kidnapping. Deputies arrested him Saturday morning after an investigation into a shooting led them to Ali and the passenger, a 22-year-old woman.
The woman's father told deputies he found Ali sexually assaulting her, Thurston Sheriff's Lt. Mike Brooks said on Sunday. In response, the father assaulted the driver and fired a gun, but the driver was not shot.
In setting the bail amount, Skinder determined there existed a substantial danger Ali may commit a violent crime if he were released without conditions. Skinder also barred Ali from contacting the woman and ordered him to surrender his passport, according to court records.
Ali also was instructed to to wear a tracking unit and remain at his home with few exceptions, such as visiting court, his attorney, medical appointments or religious services.
Court records indicate Ali has no known adult criminal convictions.
The investigation
A statement of probable cause describes the investigation into the alleged crimes from the perspective of law enforcement.
A Thurston County deputy responded to the area of Gardner Court Southeast and Nisqually Park Drive on June 15 after someone reported gunshots in that area.
The caller told dispatch they heard a man say, "I don't want to kill you," two gunshots and then two unknown vehicles driving away, according to the statement.
The deputy contacted the driver of one of those vehicles, later identified as Ali, during a traffic stop on Sixth Avenue Southeast, just south of Steilacoom Road.
Ali reportedly appeared injured and confused at the time. The deputy noted he was bleeding from his head and hands and had multiple lumps on the front sides of his head.
Ali allegedly told the deputy he dropped off a female passenger in the area when four unknown individuals exited from another vehicle, opened his vehicle doors and assaulted him, according to the statement.
The deputy noted a smartphone, a black T-shirt and a single shoe were in the backseat of Ali's vehicle. He allegedly said those items did not belong to him.
Medics transported Ali to Providence St. Peter Hospital to be treated for his injuries, the statement says.
A detective responded to the scene of the alleged sexual assault and contacted two men. One of them reportedly said they were looking for his girlfriend's smartphone and they had tracked it to that location.
The detective observed a pair of black lace panties, a hat, sunglasses and two .45 caliber bullet casings at the scene before following the men to a residence.
At the residence, the detective met the woman who was allegedly assaulted and some of her family members, all of whom were intoxicated, the court records say.
One of the family members said they called a ride for the woman outside a bar and later found her naked on the side of the roadway. The family member said it appeared as if the woman had been sexually assaulted.
Based on the woman's behavior, the detective believed she was too intoxicated to be capable of consent. The woman told the detective her phone and panties were missing and she did not recall what happened after she left the bar.
A deputy transported the woman to a hospital to complete a sexual assault kit. At the hospital, the family member "broke down" and offered a different account of what happened, according to the probable cause statement.
The family member alleged a rideshare driver matching Ali's description picked up the woman from a bar. The family member said the woman was not home when they returned later that night.
The woman's father then tracked her location to the 11600 block of Sixth Avenue Southeast and went there with three other people, according to the statement.
The group allegedly found Ali's vehicle and opened the backdoor to find the woman fully naked and Ali jumping over the center console to the front of the vehicle. The statement says the group then assaulted Ali.
Later that night, one of Ali's family members called 911 from Seattle to report him as a missing person. His phone's location reportedly showed it was near the woman's home.
The detective later returned to the woman's residence and gave her back her phone. The woman reportedly allowed the detective to look through her phone to establish a timeline of events.
The rideshare app on her phone showed she was picked up from a bar at 12:17 a.m. Saturday and dropped off at about 12:31 a.m. at 624 Old Pacific Highway SE, which is not her residence.
The rideshare app also identified Ali as her driver and detailed his vehicle, court records say. Another app indicated she continued moving past the drop-off point in the rideshare app until she reached a long private driveway on Sixth Avenue, the statement says.
With this information, the detective alleges Ali marked the woman as dropped-off in the rideshare app to conceal her location so he could sexually assault her.
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