Uber Driver Accused of Injuring Rider While Kicking Her Out of the Car
A woman said she was badly injured when her Uber driver tossed her out of the car Thursday night on Chicago’s North Side.
Lily Kim said she was on her way to Wrigley Field for the Cubs’ final playoff game and had only been in her Uber for a few minutes when the driver suddenly changed her mind.
Kim said the driver ordered her out of the car in the 3900 block of West Bryn Mawr in the city’s Hollywood Park neighborhood.
“All of a sudden she stopped and said that she didn’t want to go to Wrigley Field,” Kim’s friend, Dr. Kim Tee, said on her behalf.
“She was alone, yes, correct, and she did not want to get out because she already paid for the fare and the final destination was Wrigley Field,” he added.
When Kim, an adjunct professor at DePaul University, refused to exit the vehicle, she said the driver got out to forcibly remove her, choking and punching her in the face in an altercation captured in part on video.
Chicago police said the 41-year-old driver “struck the victim in the face, causing minor abrasions” before fleeing the scene.
Kim – who police said refused medical treatment at the scene – said she suffered cuts to her face, as well as bruises and swelling to much of her body.
“Lily Kim got beat up by the Uber driver, that is very unfortunate,” Tee said, adding that she is “not very well.”
“The pain comes a few days later,” he continued. “She cannot move her arms.”
A spokeswoman for Uber said in a statement that as soon as the company became aware of the situation, they “immediately reached out to everyone involved to understand what may have happened.”
“Our Community Guidelines prohibit this type of behavior and we have removed this driver’s access to Uber,” Uber’s statement continued.
Authorities were in the process of completing a case file before pressing charges or issuing a warrant for the driver’s arrest, the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court said Monday.
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