What the hell??? A DC woman is claiming her swirl love situation set off an Uber driver she hired to transport her and her honey over the weekend, but Uber’s spokesman says he doesn’t believe her!
Late Saturday night, Bridget Todd, a writer, activist, and lecturer at Howard University, tweeted at taxi dispatch startup Uber that she’d been choked by the driver she’d ordered on Uber’s smartphone app—apparently because he was angry at her interracial relationship. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s response, in an emailed warning to his PR team: “make sure these writers don’t come away thinking we are responsible when these things do go bad…”
@Uber_DC I just took an Uber home. The driver put his hands around my throat and choked me. His name was “Dave E”.
— BridgetMarieInDC (@BridgetMarie) September 15, 2013
According to more than 30 tweets from Todd about the alleged choking (screengrabs below), driver “David E” grabbed her out of his car by the throat because she was kissing her husband (in one tweet she refers to him as her boyfriend) in the back of the vehicle.
Todd believes that the incident was racially provoked. She says the driver “appeared to be of African descent” and “def. became enraged after we kissed,” adding, “He was unhappy that I kissed my white husband in the back of his car.”
Although Todd seemed sober enough to tweet about the incident in a clear and understandable manner around 3am Sunday morning, she later acknowledged that she and her husband were both inebriated at the time. “We both were admittedly pretty drunk, which doesnt help for reaction time or just ability to grasp/process situations.”
But Uber’s telling a different story. In a statement to Valleywag, the company claims the incident “was provoked by the passenger.”
It is our standard policy to de-activate drivers and clients as soon as an individual is accused of criminal activity. In situations where disputes occur between drivers and clients, we act swiftly to provide all parties with the information and support they need to pursue their legal rights to the fullest extent of the law.
Regarding the events that occurred this weekend, our understanding is that an argument broke out between the driver utilizing Uber’s technology and one of his passengers – an argument that was provoked by the passenger. The police approached the scene and neither party elected to press charges. If legal action is taken, Uber remains committed to helping appropriate law enforcement agencies in any way possible.
This sounds straight cray! In Bridget’s tweets she defends her hubby for not losing it and getting physical with the driver. But what about protecting your spouse? What would you do if your driver went berserk?
You can peep tweets and a photo of Bridget below, along with some shadiness from UBER’s CEO:
