Three sexual assault victims are accusing Uber of failing to warn them that predators posing as drivers were targeting young women leaving Los Angeles nightclubs, casting a growing cloud over the ride-sharing firm as it prepares to follow rival Lyft into publicly-traded stock markets.
The San Francisco-based company’s inaction left them “vulnerable sitting ducks,” the women said in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court that argued the firm was made aware of the risk of fake drivers as early as 2016.
The allegations follow the killing of a University of South Carolina student, Samantha Josephson, who police believe called an Uber for a ride home, then got into the wrong vehicle. Its driver has been charged with murder, prompting a nationwide safety campaign for ride-share users to take precautions.
Last year, eight members of Congress inquired about Uber’s safety standards and those of four other ride-sharing firms following a CNN report that 103 Uber and 18 Lyft drivers had been accused of sexually abusing or assaulting passengers over a four-year period.
The assault victims suing Uber now said Los Angeles police contacted the company numerous times, warning that sexual predators were posing as ride-share drivers to lure women into their vehicles, then sexually assaulting them.
Uber, the women said, had “specialized and superior knowledge” of the tactic, “yet intentionally withheld this information from plaintiffs and did nothing to warn” them.
Two of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit said they were were abducted and raped by Walter Velasquez in separate incidents in 2017 and 2018 after using Uber’s app to call rides when they left nightclubs in West Hollywood. Velasquez was sentenced to eight years in prison in October after a plea deal on allegations he posed as an Uber driver to lure victims.
The third woman alleges she was abducted and raped in December 2017 after she hailed an Uber following a social gathering in Los Angeles, according to court documents. The suspect in that case, Nicolas Morales of Santa Clarita, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial, according to court records.
The woman said her driver looked similar to the picture displayed in the Uber app but noted the vehicle’s license plate did not match. The driver then told the woman he crashed his car and hadn’t updated the app, according to court documents. After the woman got in, her real Uber driver called, became irritated that she entered the wrong car and hung up on her, the woman said.
The lawsuit accuses the ride-sharing company of placing “profits over safety by deliberately failing to implement any warning system regarding this sexual assault scheme so as to rapidly expand its profits and not deter any potential users.”
“This is a calculated decision by senior executives to allow Uber defendants to attempt to dominate the rideshare market at the expense of public safety,” the women said.
Uber, which has 75 million riders worldwide and 3 million drivers, estimates a $100 billion valuation in its initial stock offering, according to the New York Times. Details were expected in a filing on Thursday.
In a statement, the company highlighted a national campaign begun in 2017 that reminded riders to check the information displayed in its app — which includes the driver’s name as well as the vehicle’s model, make, and license number — to ensure they get into the right vehicle. The reminders, the company said, “have been part of our safety tips, and our law enforcement team regularly discusses this issue with agencies across the country.”
“We have been working with local law enforcement, including the LAPD, to educate the public about how to avoid fake ride-share drivers for several years,” the company said.
Uber and similar ride-sharing services such as Lyft have faced heightened scrutiny of their safety standards following the killing of Josephson in late March.
One of Josephson’s former classmates started a Change.org petition, urging the companies to add QR codes such as those used on digital movie and concert tickets to the apps so that drivers and riders could match them, that garnered support from 208,000 people by April 11.
The effort joins safety programs such as the #WhatsMyName initiative, backed by the University of South Carolina, which urges riders to verify they’re getting into the correct car by asking drivers to identify them first.
