UPDATE (March22nd):
The man involved in the nearly 90 minute rape of an Uber driver in Chattanooga was indicted on multiple counts of rape Tuesday, according to the Hamilton County Criminal Court.
Zachery Johnson was is indicted with 3 counts of aggravated rape, 1 count attempted aggravated rape, 1 count of aggravated sexual battery, 2 counts of aggravated kidnapping, and 1 count of aggravated assault.
Johnson is due in court on March 31st.
EARLIER (January 19th):
A police affidavit says an Uber driver in Chattanooga endured "agony" when she was raped by a passenger on a ride that a restaurant employee paid for.
The report says the woman's boyfriend heard her assault as it was happening when he called her. He immediately called 911.
911 dispatchers repeatedly tried to call the woman, and it occasionally went through.
When it did, dispatchers could hear the sound of a woman under attack.
Frustratingly, however, they were not able to determine exactly where she was.
"The cell phone location data was not exact," the report says.
FOLLOW UP: We're digging deeper to learn why it was so hard for dispatchers to locate the woman. Read our latest report here.
Many officers and agencies were immediately called to assist in a kidnapping in progress.
But the report says it took a little under 90 minutes for law enforcement to finally spot the vehicle.
When they did, in an out-of-the-way East Brainerd cul de sac, they found both suspect and victim still inside the SUV.
Officers rescued the victim and arrested 36-year-old Zachery Richard Johnson of Ooltewah. Scroll down to read what the report says he told them.
"He's a good guy. He's a regular here."
The report says this started at about 9 p.m. on Saturday, January 15th, at the Chili's restaurant on Gunbarrel Road, outside Hamilton Place Mall.
A restaurant employee called an Uber for Johnson after she believed he had had too much to drink to drive home.
The Chili's employee told the Uber driver "This is Zach. He’s a good guy. He’s a regular here. Here are his car keys.”
The report says shortly after they pulled away from the restaurant, Johnson tried to steal the woman's SUV, but it says "she fought back and did not allow him to take the SUV or put her in the passenger seat."
"He could hear sounds of a man assaulting her."
The driver's boyfriend, who regularly called her after each of her fares, called her while the assault was taking place, and then immediately called 911. She called him back, and the report says "he could hear the sounds of a man assaulting her over the phone.”
The man told officers he could hear sounds of a man saying "Come here baby, come here baby!"
In response, he heard his girlfriend crying and saying, "I don't want to! I don't want to!"
The report says “Zach became aggressive with her and came out of his seat again and began assaulting her so she was unable to turn. The victim stated Zach wrapped his arms around her, grabbed her by the throat, and begin kissing her face.”
The boyfriend was in Georgia, and the call went through to dispatchers in nearby Bradley County, who alerted Hamilton County law enforcement.
Given the woman's phone number, dispatchers started calling it. Making brief contact with her, the report says dispatchers "could hear sounds of the Uber driver screaming and the sounds of an active assault in progress.”
"Frustrated the efforts...in locating the victim."
The affidavit says it took authorities almost 90 minutes to find the vehicle.
It says, “Hamilton County 911 also began pinging the Uber driver’s phone number which prompted a large-scale law enforcement response for an in-progress kidnapping but the cell phone location data was not exact and frustrated the efforts of law enforcement in locating the victim.”
When she called 911 back, they were able to ping her location at a cul de sac off of Pebble Creek Road in East Brainerd, about 3 miles away from the Chili's restaurant.
According to the affidavit, "the horn of the vehicle went off and Zach even honked the horn on purpose but no neighbors seemed to notice."
Officers eventually rescued the victim and arrested the suspect.
The victim told a detective, “That was agony!,” referring to being squished in the driver’s seat with Johnson during the assault.
"Couldn't remember what happened."
The affidavit says Johnson told investigators he drove home in his truck then said “he couldn’t remember what happened in between Chili’s and the cul-de-sac.”
Officers found recent cuts on Johnson's face that were "consistent with a victim fighting back in an assault."
Zachery Johnson is now charged with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual battery and carjacking.
We have reached out to both Chili's and Uber for comment on this story, and we'll add an update when we hear back.
Update: In an email, an Uber spokesman says “The driver’s report is gut wrenching. We’ve reached out to her to offer our support and stand ready to assist law enforcement with their investigation.”
Uber says they have removed Johnson's access to the app.
We're also working to learn why the boyfriend's 911 call from Georgia went to Bradley County instead of Hamilton County.
Depend on us to bring you updates on this developing story as we get them.
FOLLOW UP: We're digging deeper to learn why it was so hard for dispatchers to locate the woman. Read our latest report here.