There are stories about vigilante Uber drivers that are funny, and there are stories that are scary. The latest news from Charleston, South Carolina is a little bit of both — but with an extra dose of the unhinged.
Image: Getty / Gizmodo
Uber driver David Stanley Hubbard was arrested on Saturday after a pair of passengers, apparently fearing for their lives, fled his vehicle at a stoplight. The couple in question became understandably scared when Hubbard started running his mouth about being a cop, running red lights whenever he wanted, as well as “killing people and chasing murderers”.
After the passengers fled the 57-year-old driver’s Honda Pilot, they flagged down some real police officers. The cops caught up with Hubbard and found a fake US Marshal badge, portable police lights (with siren), handcuffs, and a loaded semi-automatic pistol (with two extra, loaded magazines). Hubbard now faces charges of impersonating a police officer and carrying concealed weapons. He’s being held in Charleston on a $US100,000 ($132,222) bond.
Sadly, this sort of thing isn’t surprising any more. Just a few months ago, we saw video of an Uber driver blowing through red lights, though it remains unclear if that guy also pretended to be a cop. Just a few days after that incident made news, an Uber driver shot and killed an alleged robber while his passenger watched. And those incidents seem like small potatoes compared to the murder problem Uber faces in developing markets like Brazil. Oh and who could forget the video of an Uber driver ploughing into a petrol station, then fleeing in a flaming SUV?!
At least in the Charleston episode, it looks like nobody got hurt. Uber still hasn’t quite nailed down that driver vetting program, though. Not even close, actually.
[AP]