After he was assaulted by an illegal immigrant working for the company, Bryan Kobel, CEO of TC BioPharm, is suing Uber. For context, Vadim Nikolaevich Uliumdzhiev, the man allegedly responsible for the assault, is a Russian national illegally in the U.S., was using a fake driver’s license, and was later detained by ICE.
Initially, the dispute began over Kobel’s service dog, and left him with a concussion and head injuries. The CEO accuses Uber of negligence in driver vetting, seeking over $100,000 for medical costs and emotional distress.
In any case, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement on the troubling incident. She said, “An ICE arrest detainer was placed on him to ensure he is not released back into American communities to terrorize more Americans. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, if you break the law, you will face the consequences. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”
Providing additional context, transcripts of frantic 911 callers indicate the seriousness of the assault. One female 911 caller said, “I can’t even look. Oh my God. The suspect has driven off.” Clearly concerned, one man told the dispatcher, “He’s bleeding very badly in the back of the head. We’re going to need an ambulance. Send the police. … There’s a gazillion witnesses.”
Describing the crime, Bryan Kobel described the incident. He said, “This man violently assaults me, leaves me effectively bleeding out from my head in a parking lot, speeds off, and picks somebody up two minutes later. When I left the hospital, my account had been suspended, and within 48 hours, it had been deactivated. Despite my sharing hospital records, police records, the detective’s name and phone number, and images of the assault, Uber chose to effectively victim-blame me and vilify me.”
Building on this point, he continued, “It was about 60 days before I could really have some semblance of a normal life. I had to bring our employees into a Zoom call and inform them of what had happened. … I couldn’t look at screens. I couldn’t really focus my eyes. … I had a complete loss of vocabulary. You wonder, will I ever be whole again? Am I ever going to be the person I was? It’s made me more jaded, for sure.”
Concluding his comments, he argued, “Uber let a wolf into the henhouse. They allowed a man who was in a country illegally, a Russian national with a fake license, to go through their background check and snake his way in and then have what was nothing more than a violent outburst for no reason.”
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Similarly, Kenneth Berger, Kobel’s attorney, slammed the rideshare company. He wrote, “Riders rely on Uber to know who is behind the wheel. We’re seeking answers and accountability for how an undocumented individual using a fraudulent ID was able to access Uber’s platform, assault a passenger, and flee. Publicly traded companies that profit from public trust must have screening and real-time identity systems that actually protect people.”
Watch the clip here:
Offering their own statement, an Uber spokesperson claimed, “There is no place for violence on the Uber platform. While we can’t comment on pending litigation, Uber is deeply committed to safety and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations around worker eligibility.”
Featured image from embedded video
Featured image from embedded video