Uber Driver Threatened to Rape and Kill San Francisco Passenger

Uber is yet again facing questions about its safety standards after a San Francisco woman documented voicemails and phone calls from a driver who threatened to rape and kill her. In a first person account on SFist, Eve Batey recounted the violent threats of one of the company’s drivers issued after he was unable to find Batey at her location. The driver, Batey writes, was immediately aggressive after he was unable to locate her: “Where the fuck are you?” he screamed at Batey.

It went quickly downhill from there:

“I’m right here, where I said I was,” I said. “But I’m not comfortable with this,” I said, because if a guy is aggro enough to start swearing at me off the bat I’ll be damned if I’m getting in a car with him.

“I’m going to cancel my ride, thank you.” I hung up, and hit “cancel ride” on the Uber app.

As I’m doing that, my phone rings again. At the same time I look to my left, and I see a black sedan start to drive up the ramp to the raised Muni platform. I answer the phone.

“How about I stick my dick in your pussy?” the driver screams. “I see you there, look at me, I see you there on your phone.”

Obviously scared, Batey writes that she essentially hid behind the gates of the houses she was waiting in front of. The Uber driver, however, continued to circle his car and repeatedly called her: “ ‘CANCEL THE RIDE!’ he screams. ‘I did!’ I say. ‘You fucking bitch, I’m going to find you, rape you, and kill you’ he responds. ‘I’m calling the police,’ I say.”

Batey did call the police, she also reported the incident to Uber who initially charged her for the cancelled order. After her post picked up steam on social media, however, Uber refunded the charges and promised to investigate.

The company already has a relatively lengthy history of drivers attacking and threatening female passengers. Many states and counties, including the San Francisco District Attorney General, allege that Uber doesn’t do enough to ensure customer safety. For its part, the company has produced a number of PSAs assuring everyone that they’re completely safe.