Phony Lyft Driver + JeffCo COVID Test Sites: The Week In News

BIRMINGHAM, AL — This past week on Patch in the Birmingham metro, a couple of major arrests by the Birmingham Police Department topped the news cycle, with one of the arrests being a man who police say posed as a Lyft driver, picked up a female passenger and sexually assaulted her.

Also in the news, a year after the shooting death of a 2-year-old child in Birmingham, a man was arrested and charged with murder in the child's death.

Here are those stories and other that made headlines this past week on Patch:

Phony Lyft Driver Accused Of Sexual Assault

A man police say posed as a Lyft driver and sexually assaulted a passenger has been charged with rape, sodomy and kidnapping.

Birmingham Man Charged In Shooting Death Of 2-Year-Old Boy

Police arrested 24-year-old Clearence Speed Thursday and charged him with murder in the 2021 death of Major Turner.

Jefferson County Now Has 4 COVID-19 Testing Sites

The Jefferson County Department of Health has addressed the issue of rising COVID-19 cases in the state by setting up four free COVID-19 testing sites in the county.

Body On I-459 Identified As 36-Year-Old Birmingham Man

A body seen on the roadway on I-459 Tuesday afternoon in Hoover has been identified as 36-year-old Tyrez Demetrius Garner of Birmingham.

Pfizer To Ask FDA To Approve COVID Vaccine For Kids Under 5

Children younger than 5 in Alabama could start getting their coronavirus vaccinations as soon as the end of February if the Food and Drug Administration approves an emergency authorization request expected to be filed Tuesday by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech.