Woman pepper sprays Uber driver in unprovoked attack
Shohel Mahmoud was pepper sprayed by a passenger in an unprovoked attack in Manhattan
By Kristie Keleshian
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NEW YORK (WCBS/WLNY) — An Uber driver was pepper sprayed by a passenger in an unprovoked attack in Manhattan, and it was all caught on video.
The victim told CBS New York’s Kristie Keleshian he believes it was because of the color of his skin.
Uber pepper spray attack caught on camera
The attack happened on July 31 inside a vehicle on Lexington Avenue near East 65th Street.
Dash cam video shows Shohel Mahmoud sitting in the driver’s seat with two women in the back seat. Suddenly, one of the passengers, identified as 23-year-old Jennifer Guilbeault, leans forward and pepper sprays Mahmoud directly in the eyes. She then grabs his arm as he tries to push her away.
Mahmoud unbuckles his seat belt and jumps out of the vehicle, but because the vehicle is still moving, he gets back in as Guilbeault tries to climb into the driver’s seat. Mahmoud eventually puts the vehicle in park, then gets back out of the vehicle, as the second passenger pulls Guilbeault back into the back seat.
Guilbeault can be heard saying, “Get him out of this car. Get him out. Get him out. Get him out.” She then gets out of the vehicle and stands in the street on the passenger’s side of the vehicle.
“I tried to save myself first,” Mahmoud told CBS New York. “Then I asked, ‘Why you do it? Why you do it?'”
In the dash cam video, the second passenger also repeatedly asks Guilbeault, “Why did you do that?” Mahmoud said Guilbeault is heard telling her friend, “He’s brown.”
The two passengers then gather their belongings and get out of the vehicle as they both say, “We have to go.”
Uber driver says he fears for his safety after pepper spray attack
Guilbeault was later arrested and charged with assault.
In a statement, an Uber spokesperson said, “The rider’s actions shown in the video are deplorable. Violence is not tolerated, and the rider has been banned from the Uber platform. We will support police in their investigation however we can.”
Mahmoud, who is a full-time Uber driver, said the pepper spray stains have been hard to remove from the driver’s side door of his minivan.
“My shoulder has muscle pain, there’s that, and I’m mentally not OK,” he said.
To further protect himself, Mahmoud is still figuring out how he can put a barrier between himself and passengers, similar to what you would see in a taxi.
“That is far more better because drivers are not gonna be harassed like this,” he said.
In a statement, the executive director of the city’s Uber and taxi driver union said:
“This is such a gross, racist violent attack. The DA needs to prosecute using both anti-hate crime and taxi driver protection laws against this racist assailant. Uber needs to start showing respect to drivers to ensure their safety, because the perception is, all you’ll get is an account ban and a slap on the wrist for attacking, and in this case, almost blinding an Uber driver. That’s why too many hateful people think they can get away with assaulting a driver even when the company knows who you are and there are cameras in the cars.”
“This is New York City. This is diverse people everywhere,” Mahmoud said.
Mahmoud added, “She should be punished … I’m human. I’m not a robot. Treat like a human. I’m working for feed my family.”
The father of three said he’s been working fewer hours since the attack out of fear for his own safety.
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