NASTY

Uber Driver Pepper-Sprayed for Asking Passengers to Wear Masks

Video of the incident showed one of the passengers intentionally coughing on the driver, who said the group also hurled racial slurs at him.

An Uber driver in San Francisco was attacked by passengers after he asked them to wear masks, authorities say. The driver, Subhakar Khadka, captured the whole incident on video that was shared on Twitter. Three female passengers are seen cursing at Khadka, with at least one of them deliberately coughing on him and taking his phone as another claims to have the coronavirus. Khadka told local media that the video was recorded after he had asked the women to wear masks and had stopped at a gas station so they could purchase some. He said he ended the ride and pulled over after one of the passengers still refused to wear a mask. Police say the incident is now under investigation because one of the women sprayed pepper spray at Khadka as the passengers were leaving the vehicle. Khadka said the women also hurled racial slurs at him during the ugly encounter. “If I was another complexion, I would have not gotten that treatment from them,” he told KPIX. Uber called the behavior of the passengers “appalling” and said “the rider no longer has access to Uber.”