SCOTTSDALE, AZ – A racist and homophobic attack was filmed during a tour of Valley Lyft.
The incident happened Saturday morning in northern Scottsdale. Two young men got into the car of Sammer Tomar, a Jordanian immigrant who has been a full-time hitchhiker for five years.
One of the passengers quickly opened a beer in the back seat.
Tomar says he violated the rules, so he canceled the trip and asked the men to jump.
They tried to apologize and offered to throw the alcohol away, but Tomar said it was too late.
“I just want to cancel the expensive ride, because I’m dealing with people who have no respect,” said Tomar, captured on his camera.
“I want to fully respect you,” replied a passenger.
“If you wanted to respect me, you wouldn’t have opened the bottle in my car. I canceled the ride, man.”
“Dude … We’re just trying to get home, bro,” added the other passenger in the back seat.
Things quickly escalated when Tomar asked them to get out of his vehicle.
A passenger took the hat off his head, cursed it, used a homophobic slander and made several racist comments.
“Go back to your (bad word) stupid country,” said the man. “Where did you get that car (expletive)? Did you steal it?”
“We’ll see you on YouTube. Trust me,” replied Tomar.
“We will see your relatives being drowned by our government,” replies the passenger outside the car.
Tomar told ABC15 that he was so upset that he was shaking. He went straight home and also took time off work the next day.
“I have been in this country for 20 years. I love this country. I’m lucky to be here, ”said Tomar. “We are treated like second-class workers. We don’t receive respect.”
He later reported the incident to the Lyft and Scottsdale police.
Lyft sent the following statement to ABC15:
“Safety is paramount for Lyft, and the behavior shown is unacceptable. We permanently remove the pilot from the Lyft community, contact the driver for support and are ready to assist law enforcement in any investigation.”
Scottsdale police responded:
“This is an ongoing investigation and no arrests have been made so far and we will reserve comments on whether a criminal violation has occurred or not until the investigation is completed. We classify certain incidents as hate crimes based on specific criteria.”
It is not the first time that a shared vehicle driver has been a victim of racism.
In February, an African-American student at ASU was called n-word by a Valley CEO.
“I can’t believe this happened to me. I watch these videos online all the time, ”said Tomar.
Tomar tells ABC15 that he doesn’t want the passenger to lose his job, but he would like an apology and hopes the man will learn.
“He should pay a price for this. I’m not talking about price in terms of money. I’m talking about realizing that what he did is wrong and starting to respect immigrants, ”said Tomar.