The latest victim of harassment by an Uber driver was a journalist.
Reporters descended on Philadelphia this week to report on the Democratic National Convention and Hillary Clinton, the party’s historic nominee. But for one journalist, the drama didn’t end after she left the Wells Fargo Arena.
Olivia Nuzzi, a reporter for The Daily Beast, decided to take an Uber from Philadelphia to her home in Washington, D.C. The trip began uneventfully, but at a rest stop in Maryland, the driver began harassing her. Nuzzi detailed the incident on Twitter:
So I decided to take an @Uber back to DC from Philly because I didn't want to take the train. Driver was an older man, seemed nice enough.
After this blow-by-blow account of her traumatic experience, Nuzzi, who has 49,000 followers on Twitter, turned her attention to the ride sharing company itself:
I understand @Uber can't ensure all their drivers understand that saying shit like that to women is tremendously uncool, I do.
A representative for Uber told the Observer that the driver’s access to the platform had been suspended and the company was looking into the incident.
The Observer has extensively reported on Uber drivers who have groped and harassed passengers who presumably did not have big Twitter followings. Many of these incidents have also turned violent—drivers have been charged with sexual assault, rape and attempted murder.
There’s also been a lot of scrutiny of Uber’s background check policy, such as it is—the company does not require drivers to be fingerprinted, which has led to the hiring of convicted sex offenders.
Nuzzi did not respond to an Observer request for comment.
