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

A problem with an easy solution

[Sarten-X]

I have an idea... Let's start a company like Uber, but focused on safety. We start with a limited fleet with known-safe drivers, and vehicles that are maintained and inspected by the company itself. Put company-standard equipment in that fleet, like video cameras, hands-free communications, and GPS receivers, and have the whole thing coordinated by a central location, with actual humans that know what's going on at all times. It'll be more costly than Uber or Lyft, but it'll avoid a lot of the problems they have.

All it needs is a good catchy name. Since we'll take people to places, I suggest "Takesy"!

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.

Could this possibly be

[Anonymous Coward]

another valid use of a properly registered firearm, by a properly licensed civilian, in an acceptable act of self defense? Who knows, because if so, the outcome will never see the light of day...

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:Could this possibly be

[elrous0]

I do find it hard to believe that a driver with no criminal background would just get it in his head to start shooting up his own car over something minor. Either the driver is batshit crazy or the passenger likely did something pretty threatening to elicit that kind of response. But how about we wait for the actual facts of the case come out before we jump to any conclusions?

So they're employees

[quonset]

Company policy says riders and drivers cannot carry firearms in vehicles while using the ride-sharing app

If the company dictates whether their driver can carry a weapon, if the company dictates the prices their drivers can charge, if the company can dictate other aspects of how their drivers perform their work, then they're employees and Uber is nothing more than a glorified cab company. They are not a "ride-sharing" company.

Re:So they're employees

[MobyDisk]

It seems like EULAs can do pretty much anything these days. The idea that an app that runs on your phone can state that you can or cannot carry a firearm seems a bit of an overreach. Now, I suppose a company can put whatever they want in their terms of service, but in this world with overreaching EULAs this seems like a questionable one. If someone gets a concealed carry license, I'm not sure that a contract should be able to take that right away. I wonder what would happen if a lot of apps started putting things in their EULAs like "You can only use this app while Salsa dancing" or "You must vote for the XXX party to use this app."

Re:Yea, but...

[elrous0]

And if the passenger did really go psycho and tried to grab the wheel or harm the driver and driver hadn't had a gun, maybe we would be seeing the alternate headline "Two killed in Mysterious Uber Crash." Just some food for thought there.

Either way, might I make the radical suggestion that we wait for the actual facts of the case to come out before we all jump to conclusions that fit our various pre-defined narratives?

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.