Boston Police arrested and charged an Uber driver with indecent assault of a female passenger on Sunday in Boston’s North End. The following report is from BPDNews.com.
On Sunday morning at about 3:25 AM, Boston Police responded to a North End location on a report of a female who was indecently assaulted by an Uber driver.
The victim, a 30-year-old female from Boston, told officers that she was with three friends and called for an Uber ride at the end of the night. A photo receipt was sent and the four females were picked up by the Uber driver a short time later.
According to the victim, her three friends were dropped off and she remained in the car to be dropped off at a different location. The victim stated to officers that during this time alone with the Uber driver, he indecently touched her several times. The victim exited the car and was eventually assisted by a citizen who notified Boston Police.
Detectives assigned to the Boston Police Sexual Assault Unit through their initial investigation were able to identify the Uber driver. The driver, 36-year-old Abderrahim Dakiri of Boston, was arrested at the Area A-7 (East Boston) police station without incident. He is charged with Indecent Assault & Battery.
The Boston Police Sexual Assault Unit is actively investigating this incident. Anyone with information on this incident or wishing to speak to Detectives, please contact the Sexual Assault Unit at 617-343-4400. Community members wishing to assist this investigation anonymously can do so by calling CrimeStoppers at 1(800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463). The Boston Police Department will stringently guard and protect the identities of those wishing to remain anonymous.
[hr]
Uber reached out with the following additional information on the incident:
“Our thoughts are with the victim of this terrible incident. We have been in close contact with the BPD since the allegations were reported and have been proactively providing information to them that has helped with their investigation. The driver in question has been removed from the platform pending the ongoing investigation,” said Uber Spokeswoman Kaitlin Durkosh.
Here are the facts we know at this time:
- The driver was affiliated with Uber Boston as a partner on the UberX platform
- Mr. Dakiri passed Uber’s Federal, State and Local background screening for uberX on January 13, 2015 and UberBLACK on September 23, 2014.
- Mr. Dakiri was operating under a Livery registration from the Massachusetts Department of Motor Vehicles.
- Uber is in contact with BPD and has proactively provided information for use in their ongoing investigation
- The driver has been removed from the Uber platform pending the outcome of ongoing investigations.
- Upon learning of these allegations the driver was immediately removed from the Uber platform.
On background
- We have a global review of safety underway: http://blog.uber.com/safetyand have put out safety tips for riders http://blog.uber.com/designedforasaferride.
