Worth Reporting?

[RoyGBiv]

Daughter called me after a bad Uber trip today. Driver seemed "odd" and started asking a lot of questions. More about her day than anything personal, way more than she wanted to share. After trying to disengage from the conversation, the driver pulled over and told her to get out..... At which time she discovered that the doors would not unlock. I assume the driver had set the doors to "child safe" mode. Driver seemed angry when he then demanded she get out. She told him the door was locked, at which point he unlocked the door, she got out, and he split.

She'll report the driver to Uber, but I was concerned (red-flag concerned) that the driver set up the car so that passengers were unable to leave unless the driver unlocked the door.... Maybe he's got small kids and just leaves the doors that way due to the hassle factor of resetting them? Is it worth filing a report with the local PD just for the paper trail?

Anyone happen to know if Uber has a policy on this? Google-fu drew a blank.

FWIW... Kid is 20-something... definitely not a smartass in public places or with strangers. College town.

[nwhpfan]

Daughter called me after a bad Uber trip today. Driver seemed "odd" and started asking a lot of questions. More about her day than anything personal, way more than she wanted to share. After trying to disengage from the conversation, the driver pulled over and told her to get out..... At which time she discovered that the doors would not unlock. I assume the driver had set the doors to "child safe" mode. Driver seemed angry when he then demanded she get out. She told him the door was locked, at which point he unlocked the door, she got out, and he split.

She'll report the driver to Uber, but I was concerned (red-flag concerned) that the driver set up the car so that passengers were unable to leave unless the driver unlocked the door.... Maybe he's got small kids and just leaves the doors that way due to the hassle factor of resetting them? Is it worth filing a report with the local PD just for the paper trail?

Anyone happen to know if Uber has a policy on this? Google-fu drew a blank.

FWIW... Kid is 20-something... definitely not a smartass in public places or with strangers. College town.

I'd call.

If I got that call, I'd be glad to take it.

It's not an inconvenience when you're on duty.

[HCM]

When in doubt make a report.

It may come to nothing or it may be a bread crumb that helps form a bigger picture.

[RoyGBiv]

It may come to nothing or it may be a bread crumb that helps form a bigger picture.
What I was thinking... plus... "I need to design a pepper spray holder with a glass breaking tool".

Thanks! nwhpfan too.

[blues]

Back when I was hungry and destitute after college I drove a taxi in NYC for a couple of months. Some of the cabs had the ability to lock the fare in the rear if they didn't pay or so you could drive them to a police precinct if they were batshit crazy. (Provided you had a glass partition in the taxi.)

I agree that it's worth making a report. It might save someone some grief (or worse) down the line.

[Grey]

Definitely call the cops and report it. Uber is fucked up as it is.

[Drang]

Anyone see the report of the mother and daughter kicked out of an uber after dark for being Trump supporters? Uber gave them $5 coupon.

[Totem Polar]

My .02: see something, say something. If someone is off-kilter enough to be that weird while on the job, they’re probably living on the edge on their own time and dime. May as well leave a bread crumb, per above, if the need for a trail emerges down the road.

[RoyGBiv]

Daughter called local PD who referred her to Campus PD, since the incident occurred on campus (situation went TU pretty quick to not have made it off campus yet). Campus PD insinuated she could possibly file kidnap charges. She declined to do so, given that when she asked the driver to unlock, he did so without further threat. Apparently there was some PC "feelings" discussion but my kids aren't wired that way. PD said they would contact Uber as well as contact the driver to follow up.

Standard reminders given to be watchful for car and driver, since he knows her locations.

Thanks all for the feedback. Hopefully this is the end of it, other than the life lessons (and some more grey hair for dad).

[Trooper224]

You should also convince your daughter to stay the f*** away from Uber.

[lwt16]

Campus PD insinuated she could possibly file kidnap charges.

I doubt that would fly.......not real sure why they would suggest that. But maybe it's different where she is.

Here, that would be a civil matter. We have miscellaneous reports for such things. Never hurts to report it simply to get documentation of an event occurring.

[Trooper224]

I doubt that would fly.......not real sure why they would suggest that. But maybe it's different where she is.

Here, that would be a civil matter. We have miscellaneous reports for such things. Never hurts to report it simply to get documentation of an event occurring.

That's pretty weak for a kidnapping charge to stick.

[lwt16]

Hoping that they misunderstood and thought he locked her in intentionally and refused to unlock the door.

Even then, it's a real stretch where I roll.

[Darth_Uno]

You should also convince your daughter to stay the f*** away from Uber.

Myeh...it’s the future. Or, I guess, the present. While I’ve never done it, I’d have no problem with it. But I also wouldn’t get into a stranger’s vehicle without a way to get out and/or defend myself.

My BIL drives for Uber. According to him, it’s the liquored up cougars you gotta watch out for.

[RoyGBiv]

That's pretty weak for a kidnapping charge to stick.

I'm assuming they were just #believing (https://pistol-forum.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=believing) .
Or, maybe in the second telling, it sounded more threatening than while on the phone with dad.

I'll post up if anything more comes of it.
I'm expecting not. Kid seems wiser but unscathed.

[JohnO]

In this world it probably wouldn't hurt for your daughter to have a glass breaking tool on her person.

[Cacafuego]

What I was thinking... plus... "I need to design a pepper spray holder with a glass breaking tool".

Thanks! nwhpfan too.

https://guarddog-security.com/harm-hammer-black

:p

[Hambo]

That's pretty weak for a kidnapping charge to stick.

Here it could be unlawful restraint.

[TGS]

https://guarddog-security.com/harm-hammer-black

:p

Cool.

Is that decent spray?

[Flamingo]

There seems to be a decent number of Uber rape stories I google'ed it and save 10 or so reports in the last few months:

Here is one fairly recently:

https://patch.com/california/sanmateo/alleged-san-mateo-rapist-caught-after-months-long-investigation

I think it is interesting that several of the articles say "A person posing as a Uber driver" vice an Uber driver. I think it is kind of how the media reports green on blue attacks as a "Afghan posing as a ANA/ANP member" when it was a person in the ANA or ANP who did the deed.

[jnc36rcpd]

Cacafeugo may have more information on Guard Dog Security and the Harm and Hammer If so, I'll defer to him, but the only review of the product on Guard Dog's site said that the product was difficult to deploy and fairly fragile. While the product specifications state it is 18% OC, it gives no indication of the capsaicinoid or SHU levels. While we debate which of those is more important, we have no idea of what that eighteen is a percentage of.

Absent further information, I'd go with one of the better known OC manufacturers such as Sabre Red or Fox Labs.

[RoyGBiv]

There seems to be a decent number of Uber rape stories I google'ed it and save 10 or so reports in the last few months

It's rare that she Ubers alone. Usually with several friends to avoid parking issues or drink-driving on the weekends.
This was the middle of a rainy day on a busy college campus going "just a few miles".

Thankfully it was only a scare. I doubt she'll ever Uber alone again.... better to wait in the library for a ride.
Lessons. And gray hairs.

[Cacafuego]

Cool.

Is that decent spray?

No clue, sorry. I was just aware that it exists

[Chuck Whitlock]

Res Q me plus Sabre pepper.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=res+q+me

[jetfire]

When you look at the statistics, getting into an uber is no more dangerous than getting into a cab; people like to bleat about how “dangerous” Uber and Lyft are, but it’s really just sensationalism. The same bad actors that would have been cabbies raping people in 1996 are now just Uber drivers.

I had some time to unpack the problem of potential violence/kidnapping in a ride-share service a while ago during FonF, some of that will end up on a TV show here in the near future. We worked the “non-compliant Uber driver” problem a few different ways, but the one thing we kept landing on was that you’re always better off getting out of the car than trying to solve the problem in the car.

One other thing to bear in mind is that some cars come with the child locks enabled as the factory default setting. Based on some of the drivers I’ve encountered, knowing how to disable that setting might be a step beyond their technical abilities.