A Florida surgeon already facing a second-degree manslaughter charge was arrested on April 13 while working as a Lyft driver, pulled from his vehicle at gunpoint in front of passengers who had no idea who they were riding with. The arrest unfolded at a busy intersection in Miramar Beach, where Walton County Sheriff’s Office deputies surrounded a Mitsubishi SUV with weapons drawn. The moment was captured on body camera footage later obtained through a public records request.
Deputies can be heard pulling 44-year-old Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky from the vehicle as sirens wail in the background. He appeared confused during the encounter and informed the deputies that he had passengers in the back seat. Once placed in a squad car, a deputy told him the arrest was tied to a manslaughter charge.
The two women in the back seat were on vacation and had hired the driver from their hotel. One passenger said she genuinely believed they were being robbed at gunpoint when deputies rushed the car with weapons drawn. As reported by NBC News, she told officers, “That scared the crap out of us.”
He knew about the warrant and kept driving anyway
The Walton County Sheriff’s Office had issued an indictment a full week before the arrest. Spokeswoman Corey Dobridnia stated that Shaknovsky and his attorney had been given ample notice to turn himself in voluntarily. Instead, he continued driving for the platform, putting passengers in a position they had no way to anticipate. Dobridnia said plainly, “Shaknovsky knew that he had a felony warrant, and he still chose to put people in his vehicle, and he ran that risk.”
The underlying charge stems from the death of William Bryan, a 70-year-old patient who died on August 21, 2024, during a laparoscopic procedure intended to remove his spleen. Prosecutors allege that Shaknovsky mistakenly removed Bryan’s liver instead, causing catastrophic blood loss. His medical license was suspended in Florida approximately one month after the incident, and he later lost licenses in Alabama and New York as well.
Shaknovsky also faces a separate civil lawsuit related to the 2023 death of 70-year-old Dorothy Dorsett, whose son alleges that after the doctor removed a mass from her, he failed to take the necessary steps to prevent sepsis. That case is ongoing. Amid a wave of high-profile criminal cases tied to professional misconduct, including the D4vd murder charge out of Los Angeles, prosecutors across the country have shown little hesitation in pursuing charges against individuals in positions of public trust.
Records show that Shaknovsky had been operating as a Lyft driver for more than a year. One of the passengers shared a screenshot of his profile with attorney Joe Zarzaur, who represents families harmed by the surgeon. The profile showed a five-star rating accumulated over more than 3,000 rides, and he had listed himself under his middle name, Jacob, rather than Thomas.
Lyft’s platform safety policies include continuous criminal background checks that monitor active drivers daily for disqualifying convictions. The company’s policy states that individuals with violent crimes, sexual offenses, or other disqualifying felonies are not permitted on the platform. Lyft also uses a two-way rating system, real-time ride tracking, and a 24/7 critical response line. A federal sentencing handed down this week in a separate matter involving a theft from a sitting Cabinet official underscored a broader pattern of courts moving quickly on cases with public dimensions, including the three-year sentence handed to the man who stole Kristi Noem’s purse while Secret Service agents stood nearby.
As the encounter wound down, one of the shaken passengers joked, “We’re not using Lyft again. From now on, we’re using Uber.”
Shaknovsky, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, is scheduled to be arraigned on May 19. If convicted of second-degree manslaughter in the death of William Bryan, he faces up to 15 years in prison. Neither he nor his attorney provided comment when contacted on April 25.
Published: Apr 24, 2026 08:00 pm