One woman was arrested and another agreed to surrender after assaulting a San Francisco Uber driver who asked one of them to put on a mask during the trip, police said.
Malaysia King, 24, was arrested in Las Vegas and charged with 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.
Another suspect, 24-year-old Arna Kimiai, had not been arrested until Friday morning, a police spokesman said. Her lawyer told police on Thursday that she intended to surrender, according to the statement.
The San Francisco Police Department previously said that a 32-year-old Uber driver picked up three passengers on Sunday in the city’s Portola neighborhood, but ended the trip when one of them refused to wear a mask, violating Uber policy and the mandate of California state mask.
The driver, Subhakar Khadka, 32, told NBC News that he told one of the passengers that he would have to stop the ride if she didn’t have a mask on. He said he offered to take them to a gas station so that the passenger could buy a mask.
But in the time it took to get to the gas station, the passenger threatened him, saying she could call family members “to look after me,” said Khadka. Feeling intimidated, he said he asked passengers to get out of the car. But he said they refused, which prompted Khadka to turn on his car’s camera.
After the passengers refused to leave, he decided to take them back to the departure point, Khadka said. While they were on the way, Khadka said they were arguing about the mask, the passengers were not wearing a seat belt and one of them opened a car door. Then he said he stopped the car again.
“Fortunately, my camera worked … recorded audio, recorded a video of the entire scene,” said Khadka.
Khadka said one of the passengers picked up pepper spray and sprayed it inside his car after he left them.
Another passenger took Khadka’s cell phone out of his hands, but he managed to retrieve it, police said.
Several videos that circulated also showed passengers tearing off the driver’s mask and coughing over him.
Khadka said the situation made him feel vulnerable.
“I couldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t get my hands on them,” he said. “I couldn’t challenge them verbally.”
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi thanked the police for their “quick work and for defending drivers”.
‘Anti-Asian hatred and violence is shocking and moving – and must stop. When a community is being attacked, we are all attacked, “wrote Khosrowshahi on Twitter. The police are not saying that the attack was a hate crime.
An Uber statement added that all three passengers were banned from the greeting platform, and Uber offered support to Khadka. “When a community is being attacked, we are all attacked,” the statement said.
Lieutenant Tracy McCray, who heads the San Francisco Police Department’s burglary unit, agrees with that sentiment.
“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,” said McCray. “We take this conduct very seriously in San Francisco and are committed to ensuring that justice is done in this case.”
“We are happy to hear that Ms. Kimiai intends to do the right thing and surrender to the nearest police, and we hope that will happen immediately,” added McCray.
The third passenger of the car was not considered a suspect. Police said the incident was still under investigation.
Efforts to reach King and Kimiai were unsuccessful on Friday morning.
