UPDATE: As it turns out, the passenger who alleged assault the Uber driver in California is a Taco Bell marketing executive. At least, he used to be: the company says it’s fired the suspect after the accusations were made public yesterday.

In a statement from Taco Bell (via ABC 13), the company said:

“Given the behavior of the individual, it is clear he can no longer work for us. We have also offered and encouraged him to seek professional help.”

—————ORIGINAL STORY BELOW—————

An Uber driver in California recently had to make a quick decision: continue to let a drunken passenger beat him over the head and pull his hair, or spray mace right in the guy’s face. He chose the latter, and captured the incident on camera.

The 32-year-old customer appeared to be “incredibly intoxicated” when his Uber driver picked him up in Costa Mesa, CA, reports NBC 4. He said the passenger refused to give him an address and instead, would just tell him where to go.

But the driver says the man was having a hard time staying awake, and wouldn’t wear a seat belt. He finally gave up, pulled into a well-lit shopping center and told the passenger to get out of his car or he would call the police.

That didn’t go over well: at this point in the video, the customer started hitting the driver over the head and yanking his hair while swearing profusely.

“He was grabbing my head and was trying to smash it against the window,” the driver told NBC 4.

As seen in the video, this is when the driver grabbed a can of mace and sprayed it into the passenger’s face, which made him stop the attack. Police responded to the scene soon after, and arrested the passenger on public intoxication and assault charges.

“I wanted to make sure he didn’t get away,” the driver said. “I have lost so much money on people like him and I’m done dealing with it. They take the food right out of my mouth.”

Uber said it has banned the rider from using the platform ever again in the future, and offered to reimburse the driver to cover the cost of cleaning the mace from his car. But it seems this was the last straw for the driver — he says he’s done with Uber.

“I don’t feel safe driving for Uber any more,” he said. “The quality of the passengers has gone down over the last couple of weeks and I know a lot of drivers will agree with me.”

Uber Driver Sprays Mace in Customer’s Face After Attack [NBC 4]

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