Driver says he’s hitting roadblocks with Uber and police after assault by passenger

A St. John's Uber driver who says he was assaulted by a passenger is frustrated with police and Uber Canada in his attempts to get accountability.

Gary Noftall says he picked up a man from a McDonald's in the west end of St. John's on June 22 around 1 a.m. NT and drove him to the George Street bar district.

"He explained that he was in a big hurry to get downtown," Noftall said.

Noftall, who was the first person to drive for Uber at its launch in the province in April, says he was taking a route through the city that the Uber app determined but the passenger got agitated.

"At every single light, he would get visibly upset and, you know, he would explain that I was taking too much time and this was the wrong route and, 'This is so bad, I'm going to be late,'" Noftall said. The passenger's preferred route wouldn't have been much faster, he added.

WATCH | Uber driver Gary Noftall says he was assaulted by this passenger:

This St. John’s Uber driver says he was assaulted. Now he’s hitting roadblocks as he tries to get accountability

3 hours ago

Duration 0:46

Gary Noftall, who helped usher Uber into Newfoundland and Labrador as the company’s first driver in the province, says he’s frustrated with police and Uber Canada after being assaulted by a passenger. He says police told him they need a court order to get access to Uber's passenger data, which is housed on servers in the United States, and that they don’t think they’d be successful.

When he pulled up to the customer's destination on George Street, said Noftall, the man smacked the side of his head, knocked off his glasses and screamed at him.

"There's really not a whole lot you can do when you're strapped into the front seat of a car except sit there and hope it doesn't escalate," Noftall said.

"There was some exchange of colourful language, and he got out of the car and for a moment he stood there and continued to, you know, rail at me before he slammed the door as hard as he could and walked off."

With the video of the incident recorded on Noftall's dashcam and the passenger's first name from the Uber app, Noftall filed a police report, figuring the case would be a slam-dunk for the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

But that doesn't seem to be the case, he said.

Noftall said police told him that because Uber's passenger data is housed on servers in the United States, they would need a court order from a judge to get access to get the passenger's full name and other details from his Uber Canada account. Police advised him they believed a judge would throw the case out, he said, but didn't explain why.

"I'm not sure that that passes the sniff test because, you know, jurisdictions exchange information all of the time," said Noftall.

"I don't see why the RNC shouldn't be able to ask for a court order and issue it to Uber Canada, who will thereupon get the information off the servers and provide it to them.… It seems to me that one way or another, they ought to be able to find out the identity of the person."

In a statement, RNC spokesperson Danielle Barron said the force can't comment on the case because it's "an active investigation."

Uber spokesperson Austen Radcliff said in a statement the company takes safety and reports of violence seriously.

"We've investigated this incident and taken appropriate action. We have a team dedicated to supporting law enforcement investigations through valid legal process. They have reached out to police in this case to offer assistance with the request process," reads the statement.

Uber said it has a team of former law enforcement officers who work with police to get information through a portal on its website.

They also said drivers and passengers can report incidents on the app, and they have an emergency button, audio recording and GPS tracking on every trip.

But Noftall says Uber hasn't told him anything and have left him in the dark about the status of the investigation.

"They direct me to a portal which is for law enforcement, and law enforcement then submits the request. So I don't really know what's going on between the RNC and Uber Canada."

Noftall says he will continue to drive for Uber but won't be taking passengers to George Street anymore.

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