Police in Friendswood, Texas, have arrested a migrant Uber driver for “aggravated kidnapping” of a female passenger who was later rescued by relatives monitoring her location.
Sameh Chami, 49, had picked the woman up outside Buckshot’s Saloon in Galveston in the early morning hours of June 28 and was hired to drive her to her home in Friendswood, about 40 minutes away.
The 21-year-old woman had alerted her family that she was on the way home and in due course, the Uber app alerted them that the woman had been dropped off outside her home. However, the woman did not appear at home. Family members used the missing woman’s cell phone location to find her and they told police they discovered the Uber driver in an empty parking lot several miles away with their daughter in the front seat with him, KRIV-TV reported.
Chami reportedly told the family that the woman had “fallen asleep,” but he had no explanation as to why he had taken her to an empty parking lot.
The woman admitted to being intoxicated, but also says she remembers Chami putting his hands underneath her clothing.
Friendswood Police investigated the incident and say they retrieved surveillance footage showing Chami leaving the driver’s seat of the car and entering the back seat with the woman.
Chami “was arrested on August 6 by Friendswood police and charged with aggravated kidnapping,” the Houston Chronicle reported.
Police say Chami intentionally ended the ride at the woman’s home, but drove off without allowing her to leave the car.
Officials also reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requested Chami be held due to his immigration status, though what that status is was not explained.
A spokesman for Uber said that Chami’s membership as a driver has been cancelled and he has been banned from the service:
“It’s sickening to hear any report of this nature happening on the Uber platform,” the spokesperson told the Chronicle. “We removed the driver’s access to the app as soon as this was reported to us and stand ready to support law enforcement with their investigation. Safety is foundational to Uber, which is why we’ve continuously built innovative safety features, launched awareness campaigns, and partnered with safety experts to help prevent harm before it happens.”
The problem is ongoing.
Uber in particular has a major sexual assault problem that becomes worse late at night and on weekends — when women typically use the service in an effort to be safe. The company reportedly averaged a sexual assault or sexual misconduct report in the United States every eight minutes over the course of five years, Breitbart News reported this month.
Court documents reveal that Uber received a staggering 400,181 reports of sexual assault and sexual misconduct between 2017 and 2022 — a problem far more pervasive than the company has suggested.
Several years ago, the New York State assembly put in place rules that allow illegal migrants to earn a living by driving for Uber, Amazon, DoorDash, and other such services, thereby depressing wages for the many Americans.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, X at WTHuston, or Truth Social at @WarnerToddHuston.
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