It was a day like any other for Shohel Mahmoud, an Uber driver in New York and father of three, says The Release. In the middle of summer, the town is busy, and the trips come one after another for this man who works full time to provide for his family. But, this July 31, a tough race turned into a real nightmarechanging his life forever.
He picks up two young women at a meeting placenot suspecting for one second the drama that unfolds a few minutes later. The journey takes place normally, there is no visible tension, neither between the customers nor with the driver. But, what should be simple internal transport
a car it will grow quicklyleaving Shohel Mahmoud in a terrible state.
An unpredictable and violent attack
No warning sign, suddenly one of the young women takes out a spray from her handbag and sprinkled the driver’s face with cayenne pepper. A rare and completely unpredictable act of violence. In the images captured by the vehicle’s surveillance camera, Shohel Mahmoud is seen trying to defend himselfovercome with pain, as her attacker repeats: “Take it out, take it out…“.
It was only after the attack that the client released what may have been the main reason for her act. She would have replied to her friend, obviously taken aback: “It is brown“. A sentence full of suggestive meaning the possible racist motivations behind this attack. Despite the great pain and shock, Shohel managed to escape from the scene, but not without consequences.
“There is pain in my shoulder and above all, in my mind, it is not good”
The substance caused a spray, which was later known as cayenne pepper
burning heavy in the eyes of the driver. “It burned my eyes for more than two hours“, he confided in him CBS News. But apart from the physical pain, it is the psychological impact that seems to be the hardest to overcome. “My shoulder is hurt and above all, mentally, it’s not right“, he said, still in shock from this attack.
Since the incident, Shohel Mahmoud has been working less, fearing that this type of attack would happen again. Lfear for his safety and the safety of his family is now omnipresentwhich greatly affected his ability to carry out his duties calmly.
Ongoing research
New York authorities were quickly notified of the incident, and an investigation was opened. Uber, the platform Shohel works for, also responded. In a press release,
the company strongly condemned this actioncalling the event”violent racist attack“. The young woman behind the attack was banned from the platform, and Uber said she was available to investigators for any information necessary to take the case forward.
At this time, the authorities have not arrested him yet, but the investigation continues, and charges could be brought against the attacker in the coming days. The incident once again raises the question of the safety of VTC drivers, often on the front line with unpredictable and sometimes dangerous behaviour.
2024-08-11 13:00:34
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