A Northern California woman filed a lawsuit against Uber on Monday accusing her Uber driver of putting her in an unsafe position after vomiting in a vehicle before she was sexually assaulted by two other people.
The 23-year-old woman was listed as “Jane Doe” in a lawsuit filed in the San Francisco County Superior Court.
According to the lawsuit, the driver is near a gas station near Oak Park, which is more than eight miles from her Rosemont destination. Doe also leaves his phone and keys in the back seat. The lawsuit says the area is “obviously unsafe” and “a D+ score in the local crime rating”.
A man and a woman later contacted the doe and she said they would help her get home if she paid, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit alleges that the U.S. Department of Energy drove into their vehicle and was taken into an apartment where the man allegedly sexually assaulted her in Knifepoint. The next morning, when the man fell asleep, Doe fled to a nearby school, after which she was hospitalized and reported the crime to the police.
The Sacramento Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
“No one has to go through everything she has experienced,” said Sarvenaz Fahimi, one of the lawyers representing Jane Doe. “Uber has completely failed to fulfill the most basic duties that the young woman owes. To make matters worse, Uber doesn’t care when to report the incident. Although Uber advertises passengers who drink alcohol and make a lot of profits, it can’t give up on them arbitrarily, but Uber can’t use it in both directions.”
The company responded in a statement provided to the Times on Wednesday.
“This person’s experience is heartbreaking and our thoughts are with them,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement. “While we cannot comment on pending lawsuits, we are committed to the safety and well-being of everyone who uses the Uber platform.”
The lawsuit says Uber drivers circled safer locations in the area, such as hospitals, but chose to drop Doe near an abandoned building.
The lawsuit says that on May 31, the DOE mother reported the incident to Uber, and the company did not file an investigation into the case or said they would talk to the driver. Instead, Uber responded to Doe’s mother, thanking her for reporting the incident and providing a link to the sexual assault hotline.
