Uber not doing enough to protect women
A Westchester woman groped by an Uber driver during a late-night ride home is a “shadow of her former self,” she says in a lawsuit against the ride-sharing company.
The victim, identified in court papers as “Jane Doe,” says
the alleged 2018 attack in the back of driver Iqbal Hussain’s Toyota Camry left
her with a fractured shoulder, post-traumatic stress disorder and years of
anxiety and depression.
“I lost all sense of safety,” she told The Post, speaking
publicly about the incident for the first time.
It all could have been prevented if Uber, which long knew
thousands of women had been assaulted by its drivers, had taken steps to
monitor or screen employees, the victim charges in her Manhattan Federal Court
lawsuit.
“Uber knew that women who hired Uber to obtain a safe ride
home were actually at risk,” according to the claim.
The incident unfolded on June 8, 2018, when the victim, who
spoke on the condition of anonymity, spent a night on the town with friends
after a long day at work on Wall Street.
“It was my best friend’s birthday, and I was supposed to
stay over at her apartment, and I decided at the last minute I wanted to go
home to my husband and my own bed, which I now regret,” she said.
She logged onto the Uber app, and using her VIP status,
requested a ride back to her Rye Brook home from Chelsea just after 1 a.m., a
trip which should have taken just 40 minutes.
The victim fell asleep on the way — and woke to a nightmare.
“I felt somebody touching me, and I noticed that there’s
nobody in the front seat of the car, and I looked around and I notice the car
is pulled over on the side of the highway,” she recalled.
As she tried to get her bearings, she realized the driver
was sitting next to her, putting his hand underneath her dress, she claims.
“You just kind of go into survival mode. I just tried to
punch him as hard as I could in the temple,” the victim said, crying. “Then he
grabbed my right wrist and twisted my right arm, and I screamed for him to
stop, because I was in excruciating pain.”
The attack stopped, and Hussain resumed driving her home.
With just a single vehicle having passed by them on the
empty highway, the panicked victim felt she had no choice but to stay in the
car.
Hussain acted “as if nothing had happened,” the woman
charges in the legal papers.
“All I could think was, ‘Am I going to make it home OK?’”
she said, fearful of spooking her attacker into doing something else.
The next day, the woman, who suffered a fractured shoulder
in the assault, went to Westchester cops.
Hussain, who could not be reached for comment, was arrested
and eventually charged with first-degree sexual assault — but later acquitted
during a 2019 trial after questions were raised about where the assault
occurred.
The assault changed her life, said the victim, who still
suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety as a result.
“I was scared to leave my house after this,” she recalled.
“I was really depressed. I couldn’t get out of bed. I don’t
sleep through the night, still,” she said. “… I started to feel like I was
losing myself.”
Nearly 6,000 women were assaulted during Uber rides in 2017
and 2018 alone, the company said in December.
“I’m part of that statistic — those 6,000 people,” the
victim said.
But many of those assaults were shrouded in secrecy because
at the time, the company required users to submit to mandatory arbitration for
any disputes, including sexual assault and harassment claims, Jane Doe claims
in court papers.
Nothing much has changed, the victim contends.
Uber fails to monitor its drivers either with in-vehicle
video or checking when a driver deviates from an assigned route, steps which
Jane Doe says could have stopped her attack.
Uber’s advertising, in which the company touts itself as a
safe way home for those who have been drinking, ads insult to injury, according
to the lawsuit.
“It infuriates me. I don’t think they’re doing enough to
protect women. Here they are promoting being a safe ride home,” she said,
noting she’d been an Uber VIP for five years. “I had no clue you would
basically be on your own if this happens.
“Uber doesn’t take any responsibility for anything.”
Her lawyer, Bill Brewer, said, “Uber knew that this car picked
this woman up, they knew where the intended location was and they knew that
this Uber driver stopped off route for 15 minutes. They knew it.
“They also know that thousands and thousands of women have
been sexually assaulted before that night by their drivers, yet they’re
advertising themselves as the safe alternative to a yellow cab or some other
type of transit after dark,” he continued.
Uber, which said the city Taxi and Limousine Commission
conducts background checks on drivers in the five boroughs, says it cut ties
with Hussain as soon as the assault was reported.
The company, which declined comment on the lawsuit, claims
it added additional background checks in 2019, and this year began requiring
drivers to undergo sexual misconduct training, among other safety measures,
including a “Ride Check” feature to flag long, unexpected stops during a trip.
Comments
Post a Comment