A Florida surgeon accused of killing a patient on the operating table by removing his liver rather than his spleen was driving passengers for Lyft when he was arrested in a dramatic confrontation, video footage shows.
The body camera video, obtained by NBC News through a public records request for footage of the arrest, shows deputies with the Walton County Sheriff’s Office descending with their weapons drawn on a Mitsubishi sports utility vehicle driven by Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky on April 13.
Shaknovsky, 44, appeared confused as deputies pulled him from the car and handcuffed him at a busy intersection in Miramar Beach, Florida, the video shows. Over the wail of sirens, Shaknovsky informed the deputies that he had passengers in the back seat.
"May I ask what this is about?" Shaknovsky said. Once they had him in the back of a squad car, a deputy told him: It was for a manslaughter charge.
Deputies then opened the rear door of the car and two stunned women got out. Shaking, the women told the deputies that they were on vacation and Shaknovsky had picked them up from a hotel. One said that when they saw the deputies rushing toward the car with weapons out, she feared they were getting robbed at gunpoint.
"That scared the crap out of us," she said.
Shaknovsky had been driving for the ride-sharing service for more than a year, with a five-star rating for over 3,000 rides, according to a screenshot of his Lyft profile that one of the women shared with attorney Joe Zarzaur, who is representing families of patients who say they were harmed by Shaknovsky. The profile used his middle name, Jacob.
A spokesperson for Lyft said in a statement that the company was willing to support law enforcement in its investigation.
"As soon as we became aware of the driver’s arrest, we removed them from the Lyft platform, and have been in contact with the ride requester to offer support," the spokesperson said.
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The Walton County Sheriff’s Office said Shaknovsky was indicted on a second-degree manslaughter charge a week before his arrest and said he and his attorney were given ample notice to voluntarily turn himself in before he was pulled over.
"Shaknovsky knew that he had a felony warrant, and he still chose to put people in his vehicle, and he ran that risk,” said Corey Dobridnia, spokeswoman for the Walton County Sheriff’s Office. "He has a felony warrant and a felony stop requires guns drawn, all of that."
Shaknovsky and his attorney did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Shaknovsky’s arrest came more than a year and a half after William Bryan, 70, died on Aug. 21, 2024, during what was supposed to be a laparoscopic surgery to remove his spleen. Prosecutors allege that Shaknovsky instead removed Bryan’s liver — causing catastrophic blood loss and killing him. State records show Shaknovsky’s Florida medical license was suspended about a month later.
Shaknovsky was sued by Bryan’s widow and also faces a medical negligence lawsuit for a separate surgery on Dorothy Dorsett, 70. Dorsett died in August 2023, days after Shaknovsky removed a mass from her but then allegedly failed to take steps to prevent sepsis, according to a civil lawsuit filed by her son. The lawsuits are ongoing.
Shaknovsky, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, had been licensed to practice in several states. He lost his licenses in Florida, Alabama and New York following Bryan’s death.
Shaknovsky is scheduled to be arraigned on May 19. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of second-degree manslaughter in Bryan’s death.
As Shaknovsky’s passengers recovered from the shock of armed deputies surrounding their Lyft, one deputy explained that there had been a warrant out for Shaknovsky’s arrest, according to the body camera video.
“We’re not using Lyft again,” one of the passengers joked. “From now on, we’re using Uber.”
