Uber Driver arrested for allegedly kidnapping a drunk woman.
Are you thinking of using Uber to get to your next audition, production meeting, or just to set? Well you may want to reconsider the ride-share service.
According to a recent report, a 26 year old victim was drinking Sunday night and “had likely called the Uber ride-share service” for a ride home. She evidently passed out so the driver “took advantage of the situation, and drove her to a cheap motel.”
Officers went to the Panorama Motel after the woman pointed it out. Police said the suspect was the only white male tenant to have checked in. Encino resident Frederick Dencer, 32, was still in the room the woman had come from. Police said Dencer gave conflicting information during an interview with him.
Surveillance video showed Dencer carrying the woman into the room, contrary to his descriptions of the night’s events, police said.
Police believe the woman’s last stop Sunday night was at the Greystone Manor nightclub in West Hollywood. Police believe Dencer, an Uber driver, was hanging out at the club after another fare and may have been solicited by a nightclub worker to take the drunk victim home, according to the LAPD.
The police state that “no sexual assualt” occurred but, there was some fondling through her clothes.
When the victim expressed that she wanted to leave the motel after waking up, he did not stop her.
This is Uber’s first major incident since the company created “Safe Rides Fee,” Sam Biddle asked “since when do we have to pay extra to not get raped?”.
In an article by The Daily Beast’s Olivia Nuzzi, she detailed an encounter with a driver who photographed her jogging.
Uber didn’t take any responsibility, saying “The facts are unknown at this stage and it’s certainly unclear that this is an Uber-related incident, and the driver in question was not logged in, connected to or operating on the platform at the time. We have reached out to authorities and will work with them to help uncover the facts.”
The driver was charged with “kidnap for purpose of sexual assualt” and is being held on $1 million bail.
Maybe the moral of the story is to trust a friend not an app to get you home safely after drinking. Or taking you anywhere for that matter.
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