The family of the 24-year-old say she escaped by jumping from the moving car.
A woman from France is speaking about the moment when her sister-in-law had realized she was being kidnapped by an Uber driver that she ordered in a suburb of Paris.
Nina Scaly had made a social media post that when viral in France. Several others also came forward, she said, to say that they too had already complained about the specific Uber driver in question.
Ms Scaly’s sister-in-law Lucie, 24, had told how she was a victim of the driver for Uber last Wednesday after ordering a car around 22:30 in the Paris suburb.
From the very beginning, she noticed the driver wasn’t going the right direction, and not following his GPS to the address that she gave him, she told BFMTV. “She knew the journey well, so she asked, ‘What’s happening, where are we going?’”
After five minutes went by, the driver allegedly stopped the car and cancelled the Uber ride, even though Lucie still was in the car. He told her, “It’s fine, don’t worry”, but Lucie told him that she wanted to get out of the car. The driver then began driving again and wouldn’t let her leave. It was at this point the woman realized she was in a lot more danger than she had thought and decided the best option was to jump out of the car while it was still moving. She then ran away.
According to Ms. Scaly, she said that he wasn’t driving very fast so she luckily didn’t get hurt. But she did jump out of a moving car, and when you consider how timid she is usually – that goes a far way to show the survival instinct that had came over her.
That night, Lucie had reported the incident to Uber but never received a reply. After a second report – she claims Uber said it would only refund the money for the ride and ensure she wouldn’t be matched with the driver in the future.
“But that means that he would still be driving around and could potentially attack other women,” said Ms. Scaly.
Ms. Scaly had posted the story on Instagram, along with a photo of the driver from his Uber profile. She had warned people not to get into the car if he’s selected as their driver on the Uber app.
She said, “I’ve received thousands of messages, hundreds recounting their own experiences of aggression by ridesharing drivers, and around 10-12 women who even said they have been victims of aggression by this exact same driver.”
“They were shocked that he was still driving around, even though they had also reported him.”
Angered by the number of women who had suffered the same complaint. However at first, the police did not accept the complain and said no violence was committed, according to Ms. Scaly.
“It was only when they saw that it had gone viral online that they accepted it – but what about women who don’t have this level of [social media] exposure?” she asked.
The public prosecutor’s office in Créteil told BFMTV the complaint was dismissed because the offense was “insufficiently substantiated”.
According to Uber and Heetch – the ridesharing apps that the driver worked for had both confirmed they have now banned the man from driving via their platforms.
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