Female Passenger Assaults and Pepper-Sprays Uber Driver Over Skin Color in Shocking Video
A shocking video captured a woman assaulting her Uber driver with pepper spray due to his skin color. The driver, Shohel Mahmud, recounted to The Post on Saturday, August 3, that the woman told her friend she was attacking him because he’s “brown.”
“Her friend was yelling, ‘Jen, Jen, what the f–k, what are you doing? What’s going on?'” Mahmud recalled of the incident on Wednesday, July 31. “Her friend asked, ‘Why did you do that?’ And she said, ‘He’s brown.'”
Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, was riding in the backseat with another woman at Lexington Avenue and East 66th Street around 11:30 p.m. when she suddenly sprayed the 45-year-old driver in the eyes with pepper spray.
Mahmud, who picked up the women in Midtown, New York City, said he hadn’t spoken to them before the attack. “They were talking to each other,” he said. “I wasn’t talking to them, my job is to drive them. I started going straight down the Central Park Traverse to 65th and Lexington. Suddenly, this girl, for no reason, sprayed me with pepper spray.”
Believing the women wanted to take his car and phone, Mahmud jumped out after the attack began but re-entered the moving car where she continued spraying him. “I mean this is totally ridiculous,” he said. “I did nothing and she sprayed me. Pepper spray is illegal. She assaulted a driver for no reason. This is a hate crime.”
The 45-year-old driver from Elmhurst, Queens, called 911, but his attacker began to flee. “She tried to escape,” he said. “But her friend didn’t go anywhere, calling, ‘Jen, come over here.’ She went one block away, and then the police showed up.”
Guilbeault received a desk appearance ticket for assault and will have to appear in court at an unknown date, according to the police. However, the police are not investigating the assault as a hate crime.
Mahmud shared a little about the attack with his family, which upset his daughter. “Mentally I’m not 100% OK, but I have to work,” he said. “I have three kids, my wife, my mother lives with me.”
The driver, whose children are 17, 14, and 1, wants his attacker to understand the importance of treating people better. “This is the 21st century,” he said. “The world is smaller. People can work from anywhere, you can see video from anywhere.”
Watch Video below
NEW: Woman suddenly sprayed pepper spray in the eyes of her 45-year-old Uber driver while riding in the back seat with another woman in Manhattan
The driver was on the phone when Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, attacked him
Guilbeault was arrested and charged with third-degree… pic.twitter.com/fVWj5jG80S
— Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) August 2, 2024