An "insane" Uber ride is now under investigation from the D.C. Taxicab Commission after an Uber driver allegedly took three customers on a high-speed chase against their will while he was trying to elude police.
"Was just kidnapped by an @uber driver in DC, held against my will, and involved in a high speed chase across state lines with police #Crazy," Ryan Simonetti, CEO of New York-based Convene, summed up the adventure in a tweet published on Tuesday.
While the tweet appears to have since been deleted, it has been quoted by a Washington Post blog and other media.
Simonetti, a self-described "diehard fan" of Uber, had never had a ride quite like the one he and two other riders experienced on Tuesday.
After finishing meetings near the Verizon Center, Simonetti and two colleagues decided to take an Uber car to the company's new offices in Tysons Corner. They observed a taxi inspector talking to their Uber driver when they approached the car.
Simonetti, who later suspected that the taxi inspector walked away to inspect documents from the Uber driver, got into the front seat, while his colleagues sat in the back. After the Uber driver began driving, the inspector turned on his lights and followed the car.
According to Simonetti, the Uber driver proceeded to run a red light and race down the highway, going "well above" the speed limit. Driving along for eight to 10 minutes, the Uber driver ignored Simonetti and his colleagues' protests. They yelled at the driver to slow down enough so they could jump out of the car.
"It was insane," Simonetti said. "I physically tried to force his leg to hit the brake. I ripped off his pant leg.... I said, 'Here's two options. You take this exit, or I'm going to knock the side of your head in. If we crash, we crash, but you're gonna kill us anyway.'"
The Uber driver finally pulled onto an exit ramp, where the taxi inspector pulled ahead of the Uber vehicle to keep it hemmed in; however, his move didn't work since the Uber driver turned and drove the wrong way up the ramp into Virginia.
The driver is no longer working with Uber, and authorities are investigating the matter.
"Uber became aware of a potential incident involving an UberBLACK trip in Washington, DC [Tuesday] afternoon," said Taylor Bennett, a spokesman for Uber. "Rider safety is our No. 1 priority. We will cooperate with authorities in their investigation and have deactivated the driver pending the outcome."
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