A driver for Uber, the popular taxicab alternative, is facing second-degree sexual-abuse charges for allegedly assaulting a customer while she was passed out in the back of the car.
According to D.C. Superior Court documents viewed by the Washington City Paper, the female passenger filed the complaint against 32-year-old Reshad Ahmad Chakari. The passenger was able to identify the driver with the e-receipt that Uber sends customers after each ride.
Washington City Paper reports that the assault took place Friday after Chakari picked up the woman from a Washington, D.C., club. When she decided to return to her hotel early, she used a friend’s account to request the Uber car.
When the sedan picked her up, the woman passed out in the car. According to the affidavit viewed by the City Paper, the woman was awakened to the driver rubbing her breast. She fell back asleep and woke up again to the sound of the car doors locking and the vehicle coming to a stop. She found that the driver had inappropriately touched her, going as far as penetrating her “with his finger or another thin object,” the City Paper reports.
The passenger was able to send two text messages to the friend whose Uber account she was using, according to the City Paper. When the friend called the alleged victim’s phone, the driver got startled and dropped her off at her hotel nearby.
The ride-sharing company released a statement on the charges. “Rider safety is Uber’s No. 1 priority,” the company noted, according to the City Paper. “We take reports like this seriously and are treating the matter with the utmost urgency and care.”
Chakari’s account has been suspended, and Uber says it is prepared to help authorities in this investigation.
This isn’t the first incident involving Uber drivers assaulting customers. Earlier this summer, the Los Angeles Times reported that police arrested a driver on suspicion of kidnapping a female passenger with the intentions of rape. In March the Chacago Tribune reported that an Uber customer filed a lawsuit after a driver allegedly fondled her repeatedly.