An Uber driver in Washington state allegedly raped and kidnapped a “highly intoxicated” passenger, whose father and family members, who were armed with guns, rushed to the rescue during the brutal assault.
Ahmed AliThe 58-year-old appeared in court Monday badly bruised and bandaged and was charged with second-degree rape with aggravated sexual motivation and first-degree kidnapping.
Ali reportedly picked up the “highly intoxicated” woman who had been drinking with friends at an Olympia-area bar early Saturday morning. Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators said the victim’s friend had requested a ride on an app because she was too drunk to walk home alone, and watched her get into Ali’s Uber at 12:17 a.m. and head to another bar. KOMO News.
But instead of giving her a ride from the bar to his home, about 12 minutes away, Ali allegedly deceived the vulnerable passenger.
The driver reportedly used the Uber app to make it appear as if he had dropped the victim off at his destination.
The suspect took her to a secluded, popular fishing spot along the Nisqually River outside Fort Lewis Army Base, about an hour outside Seattle.
However, the victim’s friends became concerned when they arrived at her house about 30 minutes after she had been picked up and she was not there.
The friends alerted the victim’s father, who had tracked her location through the Life 360 app and rushed to her location with other concerned family members.
The woman was found naked and sexually assaulted in the back of an Uber.
Ali quickly pulled up his trousers and tried to escape by jumping into the front of the car, but his father, along with other relatives, began “beating” him senseless.
During the argument, the enraged father pulled out a gun and fired two shots at Ali, missing both times.
Authorities reported finding two shell casings in the area during the investigation.
A Thurston County Sheriff’s deputy pulled over the Uber driver and found him bleeding profusely from his head and hands and suffering from serious injuries.
Paramedics took Ali to hospital despite him telling them he did not require medical assistance, while other officers received the full extent of the situation from the victim’s family.
Police said the victim was too intoxicated to consent and doesn’t remember what happened after Ali took her away.
According to the Life 360 app, which the father used to track his daughter’s location, the victim’s phone showed her traveling for 23 minutes, passing an Uber drop-off point before heading to a secluded fishing spot.
“The suspect’s use of the Uber app to mark (the victim) as having been dropped off but continuing to transport her to another location indicates his intent to conceal (the victim’s) location and sexually assault her in the belief that no one would find him,” Thurston County Deputy Prosecutor Rudy Breterer said in court on Monday, according to KOMO News.
Thurston County Superior Court Judge John Skinder set Ali’s bail at $100,000 and ruled that if released on bail, the suspect must wear a GPS monitor.
In a statement to KOMO News, the ride-hailing app said the drivers’ allegations are “egregious” and “have no place in our society or on the Uber platform.”
“We take these reports very seriously and banned the driver from the platform as soon as we became aware of the incident. We have a dedicated team standing by to assist law enforcement with their investigation.”
Ali is scheduled to appear at an arraignment hearing on July 2.
