AP Photo/Matt Rourke
- A San Francisco Uber driver said he was assaulted after denying women a ride over not wearing masks.
- Video showed the women shouting and coughing on the driver and grabbing his phone.
- One of the women has been arrested, while another has said she will turn herself in.
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One woman has been arrested and another plans to turn herself in after being captured on video coughing on their Uber driver.
San Francisco Police told local ABC7 reporter Dion Lim that Malaysia King was arrested on an assault charge, while a lawyer for Arna Kimiai has said she plans to turn herself in.
The San Francisco Uber driver captured video of the two and a third woman in the backseat of his car after he picked them up for a ride. In the video, the women can be seen coughing on the driver, shouting, and swearing at him.
The driver, Subhakar Khadka, also had his mask ripped off and his phone grabbed by Kimiai.
-Betty Yu (@BettyKPIX) March 9, 2021
Khadka told local KPIX 5 reporter Betty Yu that after noticing one of the women was not wearing a mask, he asked her to put it on and pulled into a gas station so they could buy one. He also said one of the women sprayed him with pepper spray.
King and Kimiai are both 24. The third woman is not wanted by police and has not been named.
"The behavior captured on video in this incident showed a callous disregard for the safety and wellbeing of an essential service worker in the midst of a deadly pandemic," Lt. Tracy McCray at the San Francisco Police Department told Yu. "We take this conduct very seriously in San Francisco, and we're committed to ensuring that justice is done."
The Instagram account @keepinupwforeign has posted multiple videos of the incident and appears to belong to Kimiai. The account has defended the women's actions in multiple posts.
Uber and Lyft both said they banned a rider involved in the incident from using their apps.