Uber Taxi Cab Driver Kicks Two Men Out For Kissing (Video)

Two Chicago men were forced to exit an Uber-summoned taxi cab for kissing. Left on a busy road, one of them got injured.

Shadi Ramini and Seth Day used Uber on April 1 to summon a taxi cab to take them out to meet friends for dinner. While in the cab on Chicago’s busy Lake Shore Drive, the pair exchanged a kiss. That’s when they say the driver, who leases a cab from Blue Ribbon Taxi, told them to get out – right on the street.

“We shared just a very small kiss, like a big peck, like, excited to go out,” Shadi Ramini told NBC Chicago. 

Shadi says he got out but Seth would not, and the cab continued for a few yards.

“I got out and then Seth still refused to get out of the car,” Shadi says. “He gets tripped up in the car and that’s where he got injured.”

“He’s still, he’s very shaken up about it,” Shadi adds. 

Seth told NBC Chicago via email, “I should be able to kiss whoever I want.”

“If it had been a female I was kissing, there would have been no problem,” he wrote. “The fact that this all happened is mind-blowing to me,” he continued. “I hope that this brings up more awareness in general for this issue.”

Uber says they immediately removed the driver, Mahdi Hared, from the Uber platform. Blue Ribbon Taxi issued a statement, saying, “No rider should ever have to go through an experience like this. Not only is this Chicago taxi driver’s behavior unacceptable, it’s in clear violation of Illinois’ non-discrimination law and Uber’s zero-tolerance discrimination policy as outlined in our code of conduct.”

The Chicago Tribune reports the driver “was charged with one count of aggravated assault/use of a deadly weapon and battery, both misdemeanors, police said.”

 

Image by Chris Smith via Flickr and a CC license. 
Not the actual cab – for illustrative purposes only.

Video: NBC Chicago
Hat tip: The Advocate