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Police investigate sexual assaults in rideshare cars early Sunday
By adamg on Tue, 12/16/2014 - 6:37am
Boston Police report they are investigating two incidents involving rideshare drivers indecently assaulting female passengers early Sunday - and a third incident involving a woman picked up by somebody she thought was a rideshare driver but who turned out not to be one.
Police did not identify the services involved in the incidents, which occurred between roughly 1 and 3 a.m. in Dorchester, Allston and downtown. The news comes as the City Council considers regulating rideshare services and drivers.
According to police, the first incident happened shortly before 1 a.m. at Dorchester Avenue and Columbia Road:
Once inside the vehicle, the victim states that the operator offered her money and touched her inappropriately. While still in the car, the victim states that she received a text from her actual authorized timeshare operator stating that he had arrived to pick her up. At this point, the victim ordered the operator to stop the car so that she could exit the vehicle and call police.
Shortly after 2:30 a.m., police say, a woman got into a rideshare car at 1030 Commonwealth Ave.
Once inside the vehicle, the victim states that the operator made attempts to touch her inappropriately. After refusing unwanted advances, the victim ordered the operator to stop the car so that she could exit the vehicle.
Around 2:50 a.m., police say, another woman got into a car at Faneuil Hall for a ride to Dorchester:
According to the victim, she arranged for transportation from Faneuil Hall to a location in Dorchester. During the ride, the victim says she fell asleep and woke to the driver indecently assaulting her.
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Comments
Curious about which ride share operator(s) involved
I deleted Uber from my phone after their CEO made it clear that they lack any ethical sensibility when it comes to user data and that he thinks stalking tech journalists is acceptable behavior. If it turns out Lyft drivers were involved then I'm really going to be sad because official taxi service in Boston is awful.
Why would anyone...
...get into a complete stranger's car rideshar or otherwise? Ge tyour shit tegether, people! They are not regulated. They could be anybody.
Thanks, CEO of Metrocab.
Thanks, CEO of Metrocab.
Regulated?
So this could never happen in a taxi because they're "regulated"?
If this person was in fact an Uber driver, they won't be too hard to find (as opposed to the taxi you hailed on the street).
This is why I stick to regular Uber
Rideshare does creep me out.
The ones with the limo plates are regulated - and, with Uber, you have the plate number, the driver's name, and a bunch of other information that you don't or won't get out of a cab company.
You get the same information
You get the same information with UberX as well. Every person who I've ridden with has been friendly and professional. When I found out the pizza lady by my work was an Uber and Lyft driver, I was ecstatic.
Every person who I've ridden
Well that settles it then.
Same information, yes
But the livery drivers have a lot more insurance and licensing requirements than even cabs have to have.
Yeah Matty boy,
because you know exactly who is driving a cab. Ever try and file a complaint against one of those?
Uber tells you the name,
Uber tells you the name, license plate, make, and model of the driver getting you. even has their picture.
I highly/doubt these are
I highly/doubt these are actual Uber/Lyft drivers. My hunch is that they are miscreants that pull-up to females standing alone at off hours and ask, "Did you call for Uber?"
Even if they didn't, the person, especially if intoxicated, might be inclined to accept the ride offer.
Which is a valid concern...
how is one to tell the difference between Uber driver and a non-Uber driver miscreant as one stands on the side of the road at 2:00am? At least with a licensed and regulated taxi cab, you have clearer identity and some security.
Politely Disagree
Tracking down an Uber driver is absurdly easy, especially compared to tracking down a cab which is next to impossible. Before you even get into the car, it's simple to tell if the Uber driver is the one you called. The app gives you the make and model of the car, the licence plate, a picture and name of the driver, their phone number and other contact information, and GPS information of the car. And all that information is stored so you can access it later. There should be no issue at all identifying your driver unless you're very, very intoxicated. Alternatively, you could never track down your cab driver unless you had the forethought to remember to look at his cab number or licence plate.
And I politely accept your disagreement.
As I said in one of my other posts, I particular don't want to have to do a check list. Especially at 2:00am in the morning. Especially during stormy weather. And even though one may have all these "checks" people may take transportation like Uber because they are indeed intoxicated. So, what then?
And aside from all that, these are still unregulated services, which is a concern to me.
So you're drunk, the weather is bad, and it's late...
And you think it'll be easier to spot a fake medallion than read a license plate?
Or
Match the type of car you ordered vs the car sitting in front of you?
Or look at the GPS on your phone and see if the car you ordered is in fact, sittting in front of you?
Or match the name of the driver assigned to you vs. the name the driver gives you when you ask?
What protects you from a cab driver?
Okay, it may be easier to identify a cab, but if you're so drunk you're picking your rides based on the color of the car, you're not going to be able to note the driver's information. When he assaults you, all you'll be able to do is tell the police that you'd gotten into a yellow car.
If you get assaulted by and Uber driver (and I assume the same is true for Lyft) you will have all of his information on your phone. Period. Which makes me highly skeptical that this was a rideshare driver last night; it would be far to easy for the police to identify him. Much more likely is one lone guy (based on the timing) trolling around looking for women standing on street corners looking at their phones.
Actually,
it appears that two of the women who were assaulted apparently used Uber:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/12/16/least-two-women-who-reported...
They used the app, maybe
But apparently then just got into the first car they saw. So if they both picked their evening's watering hole based on Yelp reviews, you could equally accurately call them Yelp assaults.
Mystifying ....
How can Uber be faulted for assaults that take place in cars NOT sent by Uber, where the riders did not verify that the drivers were the ones sent by Uber?
Does anyone
remember the incident a few years ago where a guy in a fake cab was picking up female tourists, driving them to some oddball place, and sexually assaulting them?
His car was decorated to look like a regular cab.
Any time you get into an enclosed space with a stranger you are risking being victimized, be it an elevator, an empty bus, or a cab. Predators tend to be attracted to jobs where they'll have access to victims but will not be viewed as suspicious because their job says they belong in an isolated place at a weird time (cleaning/maintenance, delivery, drivers, etc.)
Well,
You can start by looking at what type of car was assigned to you. Does it match the car in front of you? Then, you can check the license plate on the car, does it match the license plate of the car assigned to you? THEN, you can look at the picture of the driver that was assigned to you, does the picture match the driver in the car? If you're at all concerned this information doesn't match, DON'T GET IN THE CAR.
Not sure what else one would expect these companies to do. With a taxi, what information do you have, the medallion? Most drivers don't even properly displace their ID's, and there have been cases of drivers allowing other people to drive in their place.
Yeah. No.
So instead of going with a licensed taxi the onus is on me to check the type of car and license plate and the picture of the driver to make sure everything matches?! I'll pass.
And to answer your question, yes, with a taxi you have the medallion which means much. I never got into a taxi where the driver did not have his ID probably displayed so I can't agree with your comment regarding "most drivers."
Ever try to report a taxi?
If you don't have the driver's name and number, Hackney won't do anything about the complaint.
Of course, they can't be arsed to ask the cab company to give them the driver info based on time and medallion number.
Depends how serious the complaint is.....
Many taxi drivers have been arrested for sexual assaults after being reported by people with little information.
One of the problems now is that Some Uber drivers have criminal records and were denied hackney licenses. Not many, but they are out there.
Be careful no matter what you use, UBer, or a cab.
with a licensed taxi
the onus is still on you to remember the drivers information, or the taxi number, and the taxi company. Much easier to simply look at your phone, see what kind of car is supposed to come and who is driving it, and check before getting in. If that's too difficult for you, you probably shouldn't be out of your house anyway.
The onus?
Yes, it's quite a burden to have such awareness and personal responsibility...it's called "street smarts."
When you're busy being thrown
When you're busy being thrown out of a cab or whatever, it's not so easy to get the driver's license number. And from what others have said, the city won't listen to your complaint if all you have is the car's medallion number.
Yeah I know it's sure damn
Yeah I know it's sure damn hard to see what a human being looks like, what kind of car it is and the license plate when IT'S RIGHT THERE IN THE APP THE ENTIRE TIME YOU"RE WAITING FOR THE CAR TO PULL UP!
Does the ID displayed in can
Does the ID displayed in cab always match the face of the driver? I've seen cabbies borrow eachother's IDs.
With Uber
You get a description of the car's make, model, color, and a picture of the driver before it arrives. Not trying to back-hand victim-blame, just providing a point of information.
We had this happen
However, Uber gives you the plate number and you can track it on the map.
When our assigned car was 1/2 block away, someone pulled up and we said "no, we're waiting for Reginald with livery plate #### on a Mercedes SUV, so, bye ...".
That's how you know.
Of course.
Because no TRUE Uber driver would do such a thing.
Well played...
Well played taxi companies... your smear campaign against Uber is impressive and surprisingly effective... Playing the sexual predator card from the CEO down to the drivers is actually gaining traction since those that would believe such a story line don't care to read beyond the headlines... #rollingstoneUVA
Huh?
Smear campaign by the taxi companies? So the women who allege the assaults are just figments of someone's imagination?
Or they're plants
I'm not at all surprised that these complaints are just happening to pop up now that the city is looking to regulate them. How many ride share sexual assaults were alleged prior to now in Boston? Cabs are more dangerous, untraceable, more expensive, and have very limited insurance in case of an accident. The girl who got into the wrong car is responsible there, uber gives you all the information necessary for that not to happen. Cab's in this city suck and that's the bottom line. Instead of just bitching about uber, how about they try to improve their own service. I more or less have taken uber anytime i've needed a ride over the past few years. The few times I've had to take a cab, they were just as shitty as they were before.
Totally agree
Totally agree, zetag. What are the odds the hackney lobby is behind this? Especially since the drivers where "believed to be rideshare drivers." The timing is remarkably coincidental.
You do realize it's a crime to falsely report a crime, right?
What you're suggesting is that Big Taxi convinced three women (or two, if you discount the case of the woman who got into the wrong car) to file complaints of indecent assault and battery at 2 a.m. That really makes sense to you?
Who said anything about
Who said anything about filing false police reports? I suppose that could be one conspiracy theory, but I like the one where the drivers are connected to Big Taxi (I also like that name).
Gee!
Rozzie Kid and Dot506! Who will be next to claim a hackney conspiracy? AllstonHipster? BackBayBob?
Certainly plausible
Did they not intentionally tie up traffic a few months ago outside the uber office to show what a better service they were? It was a rainy day if I recall and cabs were nowhere to be found since they were blocking traffic around the uber office. They’ll cut off their nose to spite their face, certainly not the smartest bunch, and definitely not safe or reliable drivers.
A lot at stake
Let's not forget that this is the cab industry's livelihood at stake. Rideshare services affect the cabbies' income, the industry's revenue, the value of the medallions, etc. Big Taxi doesn't want regulations; it wants rideshare services shut down. The latest regulations contemplated are similar to regulations on cabs. However, the regs won't stop the rideshare services from competing with Big Taxi. Unions are notorious for fiercely fighting for (and resorting to criminal means in some instances - exemplary links below) their jobs and money, as well as anything else they feel they "deserve," even when the service they provide is terrible and the market provides consumers with a superior alternative.
Only if we're lucky.
Only if we're lucky.
taxi companies don't need to smear them, Uber smears itself
Uber exec Emil Michael recently mused aloud about "hypothetical" plans to blackmail journalists, in front of journalists.
That kind of behavior speaks for itself. No need for complicated fakery.
"That's a nice life you got there, folks. It'd be a shame if something were to *cracks knuckles* happen to it. Ya get what I'm saying?"
No need to smear cabs, either
Those are seriously self-smearing. Otherwise, Uber would never have gotten a foothold in Boston.
I don't like Uber much - but I will still use them because I don't see an alternative, because the cabs are so utterly horrendous.
AND if you think the cab industry is anything but thoroughly corrupt and protected by a system of corruption, I have a nice bridge over the Charles to sell you.
Well played...
Well played, Mr Uber shill. Tell us, do you have any comments on Uber's practice of paying some junior Sea Org Uber minion to monitor sites like these and make ridiculous statements like yours in defense of Uber? And the Rolling Stone hashtag was a particularly nice touch.
Please take the time to read
Please take the time to read behind the headlines - always - and you will find that "Police investigate sexual assaults in rideshare cars early Sunday" is not only demonstrably untrue based on the facts recited in the author's own article and facts available elsewhere online, but it is sensationalized and generalized for a specific purpose - i.e. breed fear to encourage government regulation to protect. If you do not study history it is bound to repeat itself and anyone that denies that the overarching storyline of sexual assaults, sexism, discrimination and "asshole culture" surrounding Uber from the CEO to the drivers is not aimed at producing an obvious result, clearly does not appreciate the importance of history. The UVA hashtag may have been inflammatory, but it was aimed at the sensationalized nature of stories such as this one, which clearly have an agenda... or fine, you can choose to read the headlines only and join the lobbied-for, systematically engineered, frenzy against Uber-the-Sexual-Predator, but don't complain to me when you're calling a cab company for a late pickup and fumbling through your wallet to pay inflated fares in cash because the cab's credit card reader "doesn't work" while you're 10 minutes late to an appointment because the driver did not know where he was going.
p.s. yes I like UberX in case you couldn't tell... no I'm not on their payroll, but I should be:-)
Why do they all say "believed
Why do they all say "believed to be employed by a rideshare service"? I'm wondering why @stacos didn't report any of these incidents, which seem pretty egregious, and I would imagine would have been on the scanner, no?
I'm not saying that the BPD (which runs the Hackney racket and stands to lose a lot of money as fewer and fewer people use cabs) is making these reports up to scare people away from ride sharing (or "timeshares", as they call them), but the timing seems odd given the regulation debate.
However, taking off my skeptic glasses for a second and assuming that these incidents did happen, given that Uber and Lyft track their operators with GPS, they'll be able to pinpoint which drivers committed these offenses and quickly track down the perps, so we'll likely hear of arrests in these cases soon.
The community alert from the Police...
...Used the phrase "believed to be employed by a rideshare service". And the police are clearly biased towards the cab industry (based on their testimony in from of the City Council a couple of weeks ago and their advice attached to the alert), so I'm sure that language was specifically chosen.
That said, I don't buy into the conspiracy theories that this story was a plant. I believe these women were assaulted as they reported. I just wish the media would go with less biased headlines (and I'm including you too, Adam!)
The reason they said
"believed to be employed" is not a bias towards the cab industry, but just another example of lawyer-inspired fear of making absolute statements to the public.
OK, kids, here's the deal....
You guys can speculate all day long about this and sit back as Uber shills infect the page with their nonsense, but here's how it goes:
Go down to the waterfront, to say, Empire on any given Friday or Saturday night. You'll see Uber Black cars, UberX and Lyft cars coming and going all night. Cabs too.
When the clock strikes midnight and the cabs get scarce, the situation companies like Uber and Lyft have created is one where anyone in any type of vehicle can and will pick people up for money between 12--3AM. I've seen it many, many times. A girl or two comes out of the club with a little buzz on. She has wisely ordered her Uber car from inside the club, only to discover when she gets outside that there's no shortage of cars willing to take her to her destination. She doesn't look to see if it's really Raoul picking her up, it's some Uber guy in a nice black car. Or it's a Lyft guy in a two year old Accord. Or it's just some guy taking advantage of the free market and just riding around soliciting on his own, gypsying, if you will. And it's freezing out and nine times out of ten they're not exactly dressed for the weather. The fact that BPD has written twice the amount of $500.00 soliciting tickets in 2014 than they did in 2013 proves my point.
What's the solution? More enforcement by BPD and Hackney. Stings work miracles as far as word of mouth is concerned. As long as the BPD continues treating this as more of an annoyance than the actual epidemic it is, these incidents will continue.
Another part of this you leave out
Alternately, she decides to take a cab. Only it isn't a real cab.
OR She takes a cab, only to find that "the meter isn't working" and "the credit card reader isn't working". She is threatened with police involvement and/or violence until she produces the $40 fare for what should have been a $12.50 ride with tip.
Again, supervision and consequences are needed - but Hackney is beholden to the medallion holders and can't give two shits about the customers, so it doesn't happen.
And people hold their noses and hire an Uber.
Forgive me,
But what's a non-real cab look like? And what does a cabbie trying to hustle cash instead of a CC have to do with sexual assault and the fact that UberX and Lyft have provided a venue for sexual predators?
You also seem woefully uniformed about the influence the medallion owners have over Hackney. The Globe series took care of that little issue and with Walsh and half the city council as Uber fans, the cab owners have been slightly marginalized.
What does it have to do with your scenario?
Everything.
Because, for those of us who actually use this service rather than drive celebrities in our own limos, the reality is that getting a cab ride under the circumstances that you describe is a crapshoot.
You are completely failing to address the central issues in any case: those being that taking a cab in this city is a drama-fraught, expensive, and sometimes frightening and threatening experience even when there are enough available. That cab drivers and operators frequently violate traffic, safety, and transaction laws and nobody has done shit about that despite your "Sir Marty fixed everything so shut up" nonsense.
There have also been sexual assaults by cab drivers this year, in case you hadn't noticed.
Those fake cabs exist NOT because of Uber but because the cab system is so fucked up and getting a ride at peak times is nearly impossible from and to some area of the city. Get rid of Uber and "Gypsy Cabs" will still exist - just like they do in any city on the planet where the taxi system is corrupt and inadequate.
You want Uber to go away? Crack down on the cab drivers, the cab owners, and get rid of the medallion system. Uber exists because that system is so broken that people fear taking cabs.
Considering
that maybe 2% of my clients are celebrities, it shows that once again, you are woefully ignorant of the livery business. Just because you're an end user, please don't presume to lecture me on what goes on in the street. I'm out there a lot more than you are most likely ever will be.
While your little diatribe is cute, it has nothing to do with the fact that when people like you are in the back of an Uber car those drivers are on their best behavior. And we all know why. Get enough bad feedback and you're bounced.
Again, your naivete regarding Uber drivers is laughable. What do you think that 85% of your Uber drivers used to be? Cab drivers. Boston cab drivers. All Uber has done is allowed them to be the same shitty, dangerous and completely lacking in driving ethics morons they were when they were driving some other guys car in their own cars now.
Also, where did I say Marty Walsh fixed the way cab drivers drive in this town? Where did I tell you to shut up? What's a non-real cab look like? Does it have "Gypsy cab" spray painted on the side like in "The Royal Tenenbaums"? I ask because I've been driving in this town since 1975 and I've never seen one.
You never use these services
I'm naive?
Note that I don't take UberX or Lyft because of concern over the insurance issues.
If you like to pretend to yourself that Uber is somehow more corrupt than the current taxi business, well, dream on.
The reality on the ground is that if you want a ride from where you are to where you want to go with minimal fuss, call Uber. If you want drama in your life, well, you have a good chance of getting some from the local cabs. If you can find one. If you can get one to take you to your destination if it isn't near another popular area.
Maybe for fun you should try to hail a cab in Dorchester to get home to Belmont on a Saturday night. See what that takes. Then try it with Uber.
Tip?
Why even tip a cab driver anymore? The service is generally terrible, and if uber has proved nothing else, cabs are extremely overpriced.
That's a solution?
The solution to not enough service is to continue to restrict the amount of available service?
(For the record, Uber testified that all of the tickets they received as of the City Council meeting this month were issued in error; those cars had all been properly hailed and were not street pick-ups.)
I never said that
restriction was necessary. I said better enforcement of the cars out there was needed desperately.
And as far as Uber's claims about those tickets, I wouldn't believe a word one of those bush league Scientologists that work for Uber says. Uber employees are almost like cult members.
Cool story dvdoff
.
Competition stings, huh?
And employees who enjoy the company they work for are cult members? That's the best you've got? You do realize hopefully hyperbole is the last (very dull) arrow in a losing argument's quiver, right?
Again,
Uber has no effect on my business at all and never will. My clients pay for me to wait for them, not the other way around.
And take a look at the resume of every Uber employee. Not one has ever spent one minute in the actual livery industry, most of them are either from finance or retail. And given their activities against their competition, their own drivers and now journalists, they're more like Scientologists in their blind defense of their companies antics.
Hate the view from up top
but I love the actual service on the ground floor. And I think it's important to separate that a little bit for some of us who comment here (I can't say all/most, but at least some). The comments made by some of the execs and the actions they've taken are awful, without a doubt.
But I think most of the pro-Uber love is also displaced Boston-area taxi hate, plain and simple. I hated using taxis so much that I planned extensive MBTA and alternative routes rather than even considering them. Then along came Uber, and while I'm not a frequent user it filled a niche for me.
Bottom line: While I don't love Uber, I absolutely hate Boston-area cabs. Despise.
So basically what you're
So basically what you're saying is it's Uber/Lyft/etc's fault for individuals not having any sense of personal responsibility and if you don't follow the instructions it's their fault. Do you have any idea how millennial you sound?
Glad someone said it! How can
Glad someone said it! How can you stand at a hooker hot spot (Dot Ave and Columbia Rd) and not pay attention to the car you are getting into.
Clearly a lot of people here have never used these services
When I summon an UberX, it comes to pick up me and me alone; it doesn't stop to pick up random people en route. The app tells me in advance the name of the driver and shows me his/her picture, make/model/year of their car, and license plate number. I get an email afterward pinpointing where I was picked up and dropped off and the exact route taken between the two.
As long as I'm getting in the car that's the one I've summoned, how is that not safer from a verification / tracking / criminal investigation (god forbid) standpoint than a random taxi?
I've got my own concerns about Uber's management -- those people increasingly seem like their corporate motto is "Be Evil" -- but the notion that the service is less safe than medallion taxis because it's unregulated is nonsense.
Consider this as well
It comes to where you are - even if that is in a quiet area of Seaport.
It will take you where you are going - even if that is Mattapan, Winchester, or East Boston.
I'd like dvdoff to try a Saturday night experiment where he attempts to hail a cab down by Black Falcon Pier and get it to take him to Blue Hill Ave. Then try the same trip with Uber when no cabs go by in 30 minutes or all refuse the ride.
Yes, in theory
"When I summon an UberX, it comes to pick up me and me alone; it doesn't stop to pick up random people en route."
I've had drivers pick up other passengers who were closer to their location and cancel my ride.
A couple of hundred UberX rides in, and I've had two
drivers cancel within a minute or two of accepting, so I hailed another and got one with the same or shorter ETA both times.
I won't bother telling you how many times a Boston taxi has simply not showed up after I called and they were dispatched, presumably because they abandoned me for a fare on the street, but let's just say I don't rely on them when I need to catch a plane or a train anymore.
Regardless, your experience is irrelevant to the topic of the safety of these ride services vs. taxis. When I summon an Uber or UberX, both I and the tracking service know with some precision who picks me up and drops me off, plus when, where, and by what route. Taxis don't come remotely close to that.
Yes to this
My family pre-ordered a metro cab to take us to Logan for a flight to Vietnam (where I am now living - let's talk meters that literally spin here when the driver presses a secret button!! Truth!). The taxi never showed. Lime dummies we waited 30 minutes and called dispatch 4 times. Each time the cab was "on its way." I was almost in tears thinking we would miss our flight. My husband did UberX and the car arrived in two minutes from three streets away in Rozzie. I will never rely on a taxi to get me to Logan again.