Just after hardly two weeks when Uber driver was found guilty of rape of a female passenger in New Delhi another similar case of sexual harassment of Uber's driver came into light in Boston city of US. On Wednesday, Uber driver has been arrested for the alleged kidnapping and rape of a passenger in Boston, reports The Boston Globe.
Uber driver named Alejandro Done, age 46, has been held without bail over charges of rape, assault to rape, kidnapping and two counts of assault and battery of a passenger in his cab on Dec 6. The driver, who had passed the Uber’s background check, has pleaded not guilty and will be held until his hearing scheduled for Dec 24.
As usual, Uber has said that it will help local police with the investigation. Additionally, earlier to Boston rape case, Uber had issued a statement in a company blog post where in Uber had promised that the company has begun a global review of its security measures, and will add new safety programs in 2015. This is very ironical that just after making such promises about security & safety of its passenger the incidence had happened.
Notably, this is the fourth time a passenger reported being assaulted or inappropriately touched by a ride-share driver in the Boston area this month.
In a latest statement issued by Uber today, the company said it will implement a number of steps to increase rider safety, including:
- An alert in the Uber app that reminds riders to be aware and make sure they enter the proper car.
- Distributing Uber placards to its drivers in the Boston area so passengers know they are entering an Uber vehicle.
Phillip Cardenas, the head of global safety at Uber, defended the company's safety record but said there is room for improvement.
"No background check can predict future behavior and no technology can yet fully prevent bad actions," Cardenase said in a blog post Wednesday. "But our responsibility is to leverage every smart tool at our disposal to set the highest standard in safety we can."
He said Uber is developing bio-metric and voice verification to enhance driver screening, and building ways for passengers to communicate with the company immediately in case of emergency. It will also start working with partners with expertise in issues like women's safety, conflict resolution and road safety to provide additional training to the company, he said.
Globally, Uber is facing a lot of trouble because of company's lack of precautionary measures in terms of safety, in New Delhi case it was revealed how Uber was compromising with passenger's safety by having only 6 employees to look after whole Delhi-Gurgaon area for its cab operation and weak background-checks as the driver in New Delhi rape case had similar criminal cases against him then how come Uber employed him.
We've reached out to the company for comment and will update this post when we hear back.
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