Uber Driver Kills His Passenger (washingtonpost.com)

An anonymous reader quotes the Washington Post: An Uber driver in Denver killed his passenger early Friday morning, telling a witness he had fired several times in self-defense, police said... Police say Michael Andre Hancock shot Hyun Kim, 45, with a semiautomatic pistol during a confrontation at 2:47 a.m. Friday, according to a partially redacted probable-cause affidavit provided to The Washington Post... Hancock does not have a criminal record in the state, the Denver Post reported. An Uber official said Hancock has been driving with the popular ride-hailing app for three years. His father, also named Michael Hancock, told KDVR-TV he had a permit to carry a concealed handgun. Putnam, the police spokeswoman, said she was unsure if that had been confirmed.

Company policy says riders and drivers cannot carry firearms in vehicles while using the ride-sharing app. Some states have regulations that override that prohibition, but in Colorado, which allows guns in vehicles to protect lives and property, the regulation for Uber users still applies, Uber spokeswoman Carly DeBeikes told The Post in a statement. Uber, rocked by allegations of inadequate screening and abuse among its drivers and corporate leaders, said Hancock's access to the app was removed
Uber was fined $8.9 million by Colorado regulators last year "for allowing 57 people with past criminal or motor vehicle offenses to drive for the company," reports the Denver Post. They note that in some cases Uber's drivers only had revoked or suspended licenses, while "a similar investigation of smaller competitor Lyft found no violations."

Comments

Re:A problem with an easy solution

[jythie]

In the US, it was less about 'demand' and more about 'lower cost' since Uber does not carry the same liability insurance as cab companies, and many of the people working for them operate at a (hidden) loss.

Re:Could this possibly be

[SuperKendall]

A) This is why you'd be crazy to be an Uber driver without installing an interior camera.

B) The dead guy can't testify in his defense but the physical evidence can, and possible guilt can be determined by prior police incidents surrounding dead guy (like has he attacked taxi drivers before).

I tend to believe the driver who had way more to lose by attacking a passenger. I can't see any other motive than self-defense being likely.

Re:First?

[PopeRatzo]

so for comedy, i went and compared people killed by bears in america, to people killed in school shootings in america.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

since 1900 there have about 140 deaths from school shootings.

First of all, those 200 killed in bear attacks are since 1900. That's 118 years. Those "141 deaths from school shootings" you have referenced all happened since 1999. You must be from the John Lott school of bogus statistical analysis in support of well-regulated murderers of school children.

Why don't you compare those numbers again, but this time, since 1995? You will be surprised at the answer.

Re:First?

[PopeRatzo]

Exactly zero schoolchildren have been "slaughtered" by the "well-regulated militia".

According to the NRA, you are wrong. Here is a quote from NRA spokesghoul Dana Loesch, who is quoting the father of the Second Amendment, slaveowner George Mason:

"George Mason was one of the founding fathers, and he said ‘The militia is the whole of the people.’ It’s every man, it’s every woman, that is who the militia is. In the context of the time, a well-regulated militia meant an American man, an American woman, a citizen of the United States of America, who could operate and service their firearm."

I'm not sure if you got that, so I'll summarize for you: Every American citizen who can operate and service their firearm is the well-regulated militia. Every single school-shooter qualifies.