Uber Passenger Claims Driver Attacked Her After Dropping Her Off
A Los Angeles woman says she doesn’t feel safe alone with Uber drivers at night, after a driver allegedly attacked her after taking her to her destination.
The woman says she hailed an Uber to take her from the Redondo Beach Pier to her parked car, reports CBS Los Angeles (warning: link contains video that autoplays). But when she got out of the vehicle, she said followed her.
“He lunged at me, grabbed me, started smashing his face, his mouth onto my mouth and shoving his tongue into my mouth. And I shoved him off me and I’m shouting, ‘No! No,’ ” she said, adding that he did that twice before he let her go.
She says she reported it to both Uber and police, both of which say they’re investigating.
“The behavior described is disturbing and is not tolerated,” Uber said in a statement. “The driver has been banned from the platform, and we will work with law enforcement to support their investigation.”
CBS L.A. pointed to another alleged assault, with a woman Tweeting to Uber that a driver “just assaulted me and threw me in the side of the highway. Please respond.”
While Uber Support replied that it was looking into it, the company told CBS it hasn’t talked to the customer directly yet.
The first woman says she now plans to take a taxi in the future.
“I used to think that Uber was safe, and I do not feel that it is safe at all,” she said.
Uber has come under fire in the past for not doing enough to safeguard its customers in these kinds of situations, by implementing more thorough vetting methods. But when cities like Austin and Chicago tried to get Uber and its rival Lyft to require drivers’ fingerprints, well, it didn’t go so well: the ride-hailing companies suspended service in Austin in May over the issue, and Chicago backed off from its plan to require fingerprints (at least for now) to keep the services operating in the city.
‘I Don’t Feel Safe Anymore’: Woman Claims Uber Driver Lunged At Her, Shoved Tongue In Mouth [CBS L.A.]
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