Uber Driver Pepper Sprayed, Coughed On By Women After Asking Them To Mask Up

Photo via cloudy878/Reddit

March 9, 2021, 11:28 am

A video showing three passengers in an Uber refusing to leave the driver’s car after they objected to his request to put on masks went viral as people debate who was at fault for a situation that appeared to lead to assault.

Advertisement
Hide

The footage shows three young women in the backseat as one leans forward and deliberately coughs on the driver, then reaches past him to grab his phone, leading to a brief struggle.

Advertisement
Hide

The driver manages to get his phone back as the women accuse him of assaulting the cougher, who then snatches his mask off his face, breaking it. A lot of yelling commences and it becomes apparent that the driver wants them to leave the vehicle, but the riders say that they’re on the freeway.

The driver says that he told them to get out when they were at the gas station and they refused.

𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚: 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗟𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗧 𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗨𝗔𝗚𝗘 Uber driver Subhakar told me he picked up 3 women in the Bayview yesterday & after asking one to wear a mask was subject to slurs, taunting & one grabbing his phone.

He’s taking a few days off.

SFPD is investigating. pic.twitter.com/o99pOooWsw

— Dion Lim (@DionLimTV) March 9, 2021

Advertisement
Hide

A local news affiliate identified the driver as Subhakar Khadka and says that he drove the women to the gas station so that the women who did not have one could buy a mask, “but by then, the racial slurs and taunting had already begun.” He also accused one of them of spraying pepper spray inside his car as they were finally leaving.

“I never said anything bad to them,” Khadka said. “I never cursed. I was not raised that way.”

He also said he believes that racism was the motivator for this ill-treatment, as they seemed to become hostile once they heard his accent.

“If I was of another complexion, I would have not gotten that treatment from them, I am pretty sure,” he said. “The moment I opened my mouth to speak, they realized I’m not among one of them, it’s easy for them to intimidate me.”

Advertisement
Hide

Over on the Instagram account for the woman who ripped off Khadka’s face mask, videos from her perspective show the women objecting to having to get out of the car in a location they’re unfamiliar with.

keepinupwforeign/Instagram

She also did a live video in which she claimed she plans to sue Uber for the incident, though she admitted that coughing on him and grabbing his mask was “disrespectful as f—.”

Advertisement
Hide

Uber, however, has sided with Khadka and revoked the woman’s access to their platform.

“The behavior seen in the video is appalling,” they said in a statement. “The rider no longer has access to Uber.”

They reportedly provided Khadka with $120 to clean his vehicle, but he says this is not enough to cover the costs.

Commenters on Reddit and Twitter have largely sided with the Uber driver on this matter, condemning the behavior of the passengers.

“As a bus driver. This is normal behavior right now,” wrote one Reddit user. “Not one trip goes by where someone is yelling at me about having to wear a mask. It’s been made a federal law at this point for me too. These fuckers all need to just stop existing in society and go live by their own on a secluded island where they can all play victim with each other.”

Share this article

*First Published: March 9, 2021, 11:28 am