“I was scared for my life.” Uber driver gets assaulted by an anti-masker who coughed on him and ripped his mask off.
Subhakar Khadka, an Uber driver from Nepal who moved to the US eight years ago, got attacked for asking the passengers to wear masks. In a now-viral video, an anti-masker can be seen ripping the driver’s mask off and stealing his phone while her friends are watching and shouting, “F*** the masks,” from the back seat.
The incident occurred last Saturday in San Francisco’s Bayview District, Daily Mail reports.
Arna Kimiai, 24, the woman who assaulted the driver, coughed on Khadka in an attempt to mock him for asking her and her friends to wear masks while inside the vehicle. She then grabbed his phone and ripped his mask off his face.
The Uber driver had no other choice but to pull over and ask the women to get off his car. However, instead of simply walking away, one of them, Malaysia King, 24, allegedly deployed pepper spray at Khadka.
On Thursday, King was taken into custody. According to the Las Vegas Police Department, she received charges of assault with a caustic chemical, assault and battery, conspiracy, and violation of health and safety code.
Kimiai’s attorney declared she is about to turn herself into the San Francisco Police Department.
But before her lawyer announced her decision, Kimiai tried to defend herself in an Instagram Live video, claiming that the driver kicked her and her friends out of his car. In the video, she said that Khadka was “lucky as hell” she didn’t do anything more.
“He lucky as hell I ain’t have nothing on me… Cause if we would’ve played with me, bruh, it would’ve been a whole different story.”
She continued:
“75 percent of people I know would have smacked the s**t out of him. All I did take his mask off and cough a little bit but I don’t even have corona.”
“I ain’t gonna lie, that was disrespectful as f**k. I was dead a** wrong for that.”
According to Kimiai, the scene could have been avoided if Khadka had just made sure she and her friends arrive safe, instead of making them put their masks on.
Following the ordeal, the woman was banned from bothUber and Lyft.
Even though Kimiai mentioned in one of her videos that she prefers Lyft to Uber, eventually both companies banned her from using their services.
Responding to the IG Live video, where the woman says: “F**king stupid a** Uber bruh, that’s why I take Lyft,” Lyft tweeted:
“Although this incident did not involve the Lyft platform, the unacceptable treatment of the driver in this video compelled us to permanently remove the rider from the Lyft community.”
Although this incident did not involve the Lyft platform, the unacceptable treatment of the driver in this video compelled us to permanently remove the rider from the Lyft community. Driving in a pandemic is not easy. Please wear a mask, respect one another, and be a good person.
— Lyft (@lyft) March 9, 2021
The driver believes the women’s attack was racially motivated.
In an interview with Good Morning America, Khadka said:
“She started taunting me, cursing me… they were making fun of my race. It was unbearable. It was threatening, I was scared for my life.”
Additionally, he told CBS:
“I never said anything bad to them, I never cursed, I was not raised that way. I don’t hit people, I am not raised that way, so they were not getting out of my car.”
Suggesting it was his race that triggered the women to treat him in such an appalling way, Khadka added:
“You guys are animals to treat other human beings like this. She pepper-sprayed inside my car, from the passenger window that was open a little bit, that was the only window open in my car. If I was another complexion, I would have not gotten that treatment from them. The moment I opened my mouth to speak, they realized I’m among one of them, so it’s easy for them to intimidate me.”
The driver also shared a message for Kimiai and her friends:
“Since you were born and raised here in the United States, don’t think the other person is less human.”
Following the incident, Uber gave Khadka $120 in cleaning funds.
In an official statement commenting on the situation, the company said:
“The behavior seen in the video is appalling. The rider[Kimiai] no longer has access to Uber.”
