Uber Driver Mistreated in San Francisco
An Uber driver in San Francisco was assaulted by a woman who refused to wear a mask in an incident captured on a now-viral video that he claims was racially motivated.
In San Francisco, Subhakar Khadka is the name of the uber driver. He picked the three women up from Bayview District. A video has gone viral which shows the three women scolding and criticizing Khadka. They are abusing him. At one point, the woman who was not wearing a mask coughs on him, grabs his cellphone, and also rips off his facemask. All of this happened because one of the women was not wearing a mask, and he asked her to do so. The lady without a mask started taunting and cursing him. She questioned him whether he was a man or not? The ladies even threatened to call their cousins and shoot him. He said that after they got out of the car, the woman pepper-sprayed him through the window. He said he had to get out of his car because it became difficult to breathe. He also said that he never said anything bad to them, he never cursed, and that he was not raised that way.
Khadka said he believes he was attacked because he is a South Asian. He came to the US eight years ago and works hard to support his family in Nepal. He said that if he was of another complexion, he would have not gotten that treatment from them. He added that the moment he opened his mouth to speak, they realised he was not among one of them, so it was easy for them to make him scared. Uber confirmed the incident and in an email they said that the behaviour seen in the video is shocking. Uber has given Khadka $120 to clean his vehicle. San Francisco police are investigating the incident and said the driver was able to get his phone back from the woman, who has not been identified. They haven't said if the attack is being investigated as a hate crime, but the incident follows a string of violent attacks against Asian-Americans in the San Francisco Area and other places.
