Moment Uber driver is SUCKER PUNCHED by foul-mouthed customer in row over pick-up point… but manages to remain ultra-calm as he swerves flurry of fists
- Uber driver was assaulted by his customer after they argued about pick-up point
- Jonathan Carroll picked up the unidentified passenger 2am in Laveen, Phoenix
- When Carroll refused the fare, the man lashed out violently before getting out
- Sheriff’s deputies are investigating the incident and looking for the suspect
- Do you know the passenger? Email walter.finch@mailonline.co.uk
An aborted Uber ride ended in a flurry of fists when the enraged passenger assaulted the driver over a dispute about the pick-up location.
Driver Jonathan Carroll managed to stay surprisingly calm as his dash cam caught the crazed customer lashing out after the Carroll told the man to get out of the car for being a ‘d***’.
Deputies in Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the incident, which took place around 2am in the 51st Avenue and Baseline Road, Laveen area of Phoenix, Arizona. A hunt for the suspect is under way.
Camera footage illustrates some confusion between Carroll and the unidentified passenger before they finally locate one another.
An aborted Uber ride ended in a flurry of fists when the enraged passenger assaulted driver Jonathan Carroll in a dispute about the pick-up location
Driver Carroll’s dash cam caught the crazed customer on camera lashing out after the former told the latter to get out of the car for being a ‘d***’
As the assailant was getting out of the car, he rained down a series of blows on a largely defenseless Carroll, who was unhurt
‘So it [the app] had you way down there next to the freeway,’ Carroll tells the man when he gets in the car.
‘That’s odd,’ the man chuckles. ‘You just don’t know how to get there, that’s all it is.
‘It’s that simple – it shows me here, and you got lost, that’s all it is.’
Carroll denied getting lost and the two disagree over it but just as the passenger says ‘don’t worry’, Carroll tells him to get out.
‘Why?’ the passenger barked.
‘I’m not doing it now because you’re being a d***!’
With Carroll adamant that he would not drive the customer home, the man began to get out of the car.
But in the process he became verbally abusive, and then followed it up by raining blows to the back of Carroll’s head.
Once out of the car, he kicked and punched it as Carroll drove away in disbelief.
He told Fox 10 Phoenix that it was the first time anything like this had happened during his eight years on the job.
‘The vast majority of the time, I don’t have any issues with people. I’ve never felt like my life was threatened by anybody,’ Carroll said.
The pair started arguing about the pick up location as soon as the man got into the car, with the man being rude and belittling
Upon hearing his tone, Carroll refused to drive the man home and told him to get out of the car
‘I was pretty calm during the entire thing. I didn’t shout obscenities or anything or even remotely start throwing punches or anything like that, and it just escalated, and he started sucker-punching me.’
‘I seemed pretty calm throughout the entire ordeal — shockingly,’ Carroll later wrote on Facebook.
‘Nothing like getting sucker punched and a dude missing you on nearly every punch from a foot away. I don’t have any bruising.
‘I wanted to get out and go head-to-head with this guy, but in the back of my mind, I’ve seen and read stories where Uber has actually fired drivers for retaliating (even though it would’ve been self-defense).
‘I also thought…this is a complete stranger and he could have a gun or a knife and my life may have been over this morning.
‘I agree though, still don’t know how I was able to remain calm during the entire ordeal.’
Carroll said that the violent passenger appeared drunk.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office would like anyone with information regarding the case to contact them at 602-876-TIPS or report anonymous tips to Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.
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