Police say a short requested ride turned violent before officers located the accused passenger drinking coffee at a nearby restaurant.

ORLANDO, Fla. — What began as an unexpected request for a short ride near downtown Orlando ended with a rideshare driver wounded, a suspect walking away from the scene and officers making an arrest minutes later inside a nearby IHOP, according to police records and local news reports.

Orlando police identified the accused man as 42-year-old Jovaughn Nathan Matthie. Authorities said the encounter unfolded shortly after 7 a.m. July 20 near East Marks Street and Kenilworth Terrace, where the driver had just finished dropping off another passenger. Police ultimately arrested Matthie on an attempted second-degree murder charge and a misdemeanor count of resisting an officer without violence. The most detailed public accounts of the case come from an arrest report, police statements, body-camera video and court hearings held after Matthie was taken into custody.

According to the arrest report described by local news organizations, Matthie approached the rideshare vehicle after the driver completed the earlier trip and asked whether the car was an Uber. The driver acknowledged that it was and, according to the reports, allowed Matthie into the vehicle even though Matthie had not submitted a new ride request through the Uber application. Uber later said the encounter was not an active trip booked through its platform, describing the driver’s decision to transport Matthie as a courtesy. That distinction became important as police and the company explained how the encounter began.

The requested destination was reported to be only about five minutes away, but investigators said the short trip soon became a dispute about how the driver should get there. The driver was using a route shown by GPS, while Matthie allegedly wanted him to travel a different way. Accounts of the arrest report say the driver declined to follow the alternate route. Police allege that the disagreement then escalated inside the vehicle and that Matthie pulled a knife and stabbed the driver on the right side of his upper body. Other reporting described the injury as a wound to the chest.

The driver survived the immediate encounter and was able to speak with authorities, but police have not publicly released a detailed medical update describing the severity of his injuries or the length of his recovery. His name also has not been widely released in the reports reviewed for this story. Uber said after the arrest that its thoughts were with the driver as he recovered. The company emphasized that the confrontation did not take place during a formally booked Uber trip, even though the wounded man was an Uber driver and had apparently agreed to provide the short ride.

After the stabbing, police said Matthie left the area on foot. Investigators did not describe a prolonged search. Officers located him a short time later at an IHOP on East Colonial Drive near Summerlin Avenue, not far from the reported stabbing scene. Surveillance information cited in local reporting indicated that Matthie entered the restaurant and sat down for breakfast. The contrast between the violent allegation and the ordinary restaurant setting later became one of the most visible elements of the case after Orlando police released body-camera video showing the arrest.

The footage shows officers moving into the restaurant and confronting Matthie while he is seated at a booth with a cup of coffee. Officers repeatedly order him to get onto the floor. Matthie does not immediately follow the commands and continues holding the cup as officers maintain their positions. A police dog is brought close enough for officers to warn him about the consequences of failing to comply. Matthie eventually leaves the booth, lowers himself to the floor and is handcuffed. Police said his delay in complying led to the separate resisting-without-violence charge.

Officers then searched Matthie and found what police described as a knife in one of his pockets. Body-camera footage shows an officer noticing a long object and removing an item wrapped in light-colored material. Authorities have identified the object as a knife, though publicly available reporting has not established through laboratory testing whether it was the weapon used to injure the driver. Orlando police said soon after the arrest that some details were being withheld to protect the integrity of the investigation. No public account reviewed for this story described completed forensic testing on the item.

Matthie’s first court appearance shifted attention from the roadside encounter to questions about his detention and representation. Ninth Circuit Court Judge Jeanette Bigney told him he would remain held without bond on the attempted murder charge. During the hearing, Matthie said he wanted to represent himself. When the judge asked whether he had legal training, he answered that he did not. The court cautioned him about proceeding without a lawyer, and the exchange drew additional attention when Matthie appeared uncertain about what the no-bond order meant for his ability to leave jail.

At a later hearing July 24, local reporting said Matthie was permitted to represent himself in the criminal case. That development gave the proceeding an additional legal dimension because defendants have a constitutional right to represent themselves when a court determines that a waiver of counsel is knowing and voluntary. Public reporting on the Orlando case, however, has not established how Matthie’s defense will ultimately proceed through later stages. His decision to act as his own lawyer does not change the prosecution’s burden to prove the criminal allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.

The known facts also leave several questions unresolved. Police have not publicly provided a detailed account of the driver’s recovery, and the reports reviewed for this story do not establish whether prosecutors later amended the charges, whether additional forensic evidence has been filed or whether a trial date has been set. Accounts of the original confrontation also differ slightly in emphasis: some describe the dispute mainly as a disagreement over directions, while police statements stressed that the driver had been asked to provide a ride without a request placed through the rideshare application. Those descriptions are not necessarily inconsistent, but together they show that the confrontation developed in stages.

A separate federal civil rights case involving Matthie generated a later public indication of his custody status. An Aug. 2 report about that Pennsylvania litigation said his address was then listed as an Orange County correctional facility after his Florida arrest. That civil case concerns an unrelated 2023 Pennsylvania incident for which Matthie was acquitted at trial in 2024 and should not be treated as evidence about the Orlando allegations. The later filing is relevant here only because it indicated that he remained in Florida custody after the first round of Orlando court hearings.

No more recent reliable public report reviewed for this story established that Matthie had been released or that the attempted murder case had been resolved. He is accused, not convicted, in the Orlando case. The driver’s most recent publicly described condition remained incomplete, and Orlando police have said the investigation required some information to be withheld while the facts were still being established.

Author note: Last updated August 26, 2026.