But to make his dream come true, he became an Uber driver and had to deal with some difficult situations, he told CNN.
Khadka, 32, recently shared a 42-second camera video of a confrontation he had with three customers inside his car. He said the dispute started over women’s refusal to wear face masks.
San Francisco police identified two of the three women in the car as Arna Kimiai, 24, and Malaysia King, 24.
King was identified as the woman in the red suit seen on the far left of the video, while Kimiai was identified as the woman on the far right, directly behind Khadka in the video, Adam Lobsinger, public information officer for the San Francisco Police Department, said to CNN.
In the video, the woman identified as Kimiai takes off her face mask, rips Khadka’s face mask off her face, coughs in her direction and tries to take out her cell phone. Meanwhile, the woman identified as King, wearing her mask below her face, announces that she has the coronavirus.
Las Vegas Police Department officers arrested King on Thursday for assault with a caustic chemical, assault and battery, conspiracy and violation of the health and safety code, according to a statement from the San Francisco Police Department.
Kimiai “remains pending at this time, but communicated through his lawyer in the late afternoon to the San Francisco Police Department about his intention to surrender soon,” the police statement said on Thursday.
SFPD said the charges against Kimiai would be made public when she was arrested or surrendered.
CNN made repeated efforts to contact King and Kimiai for comment and received no response. CNN also tried to contact Kimiai’s lawyer. It is unclear whether King has a lawyer at the moment.
Suspects fled the scene
Khadka says he picked up the three women in San Francisco on Sunday, March 7 at around 12:45 pm. He soon realized that one of the passengers was not wearing a mask, so he stopped the tour a few minutes later, according to SFPD officer Robert Rueca. Khadka told CNN that he stopped the car to allow the unmasked passenger to enter a gas station and buy a mask, which she did.
But Khadka said he was tired of the passengers’ provocative behavior by now. When the woman returned from the gas station to the car, he told passengers that he was finishing the trip – that he was going home. That announcement, he said, made passengers more furious.
In the video, the woman identified as Kimiai can be seen sitting directly behind Khadka, and takes off her mask and coughs at her.
“Fuck the mask,” she says. Meanwhile, the woman in a red outfit, identified as King, can be heard saying “And I have corona”, while pulling the mask up to the chin.
Immediately afterwards, the woman behind Khadka arrives at the front seat of the car and tries to get Khadka’s cell phone.
Khadka manages to get it back and says: “don’t touch my property”.
In a statement to CNN, Uber said, “In this case, we have banned all three passengers and contacted Mr. Khadka to offer our support.”
Passengers must also confirm that they are wearing a mask or face mask before they signal to a car. But there is no selfie requirement for passengers as there is for drivers. Uber relies on drivers and passengers to maintain mutual accountability.
“I believe that, as I look, my appearance, that plays an important role here,” he said.
In the video, the woman identified as Kimiai can be seen tearing off her face mask, tearing one of the cords that hold the mask in place, making it unusable.
“Now you’re about to be beaten,” says the woman identified as King.
The clash lasted about 15 minutes, according to Khadka.
It is unclear what happened before or after the 42-second clip. Khadka said that his dashcam records only when his car is running, and there were times that were not recorded because he was parked and refused to drive until all the women were masked. The clip is just a part of the video that Khadka gave to SFPD.
Finally, the women left Khadka’s car, he said. But one person “reached through an open window and sprayed what is believed to be pepper spray on the vehicle and in the driver’s direction,” according to police officer Rueca. It is unclear who did this and this moment is not captured in the 42-second music video.
The suspects fled the scene, according to a police report, and even with the arrest, SFPD said it was still investigating the incident.
“We are happy to hear that Kimiai intends to do the right thing and surrender to the nearest law enforcement agency, and we hope that will happen immediately,” said Lt. Tracy McCray in a statement to the police. “The behavior captured on video in this incident showed a cruel disregard for the safety and well-being of an essential service worker in the midst of a deadly pandemic. We take this conduct very seriously in San Francisco and are committed to ensuring that justice is done in this case. ”
‘We need justice’
After the confrontation, Khadka contacted Uber to report the incident.
“The behavior seen in the video is terrible,” said an Uber spokesman. “As a result, the driver no longer has access to Uber. Our policy is clear: no mask, no respect, no ride.”
After documenting the incident with authorities and Uber, Khadka said he realized his car could not drive.
“Anyone who gets in and puts their hand on any area of the car and somehow wipes their hand on their nose, mouth or eyes is going to hurt,” he said, referring to the pepper spray.
Khadka said he asked Uber to help pay for the cleaning of his car and that the company paid him $ 370. Uber said it gave Khadka $ 250 and other financial support, and it is up to the driver to disclose how much. company gave it to him.
After cleaning his car, Khadka returned to the road.
“Nobody wants to go out on Sunday to work, but I was already there,” he said. “So, I tried to work, I took a few laps and I didn’t feel like I was in my common sense, so I was thinking about something else and driving and that’s not safe at all, so I went home.”
Khadka said he has not been back on the road since last Sunday’s incident.
When the video started circulating online, Khadka wanted to share what happened to his family in Nepal.
“They are a family, they care a lot,” he said. “I called them up and said, ‘There’s a video being released, please don’t despair, it’s just for a social cause, we need justice.'”
“The pandemic has hit us in the same way, all over the world, it’s the same in Nepal,” he said. “Life is getting normal there, so it has been a difficult time for me, but I have to work.”
Khadka said he shared the video to help police identify the suspects.
“Once they are identified, once they are in police custody, then we are going to move to justice and that’s it, that’s what I wanted,” he said.