Lawrence Uber driver charged with indecent assault on passenger

A 31-year-old Uber driver assaulted, accosted and annoyed a 25-year-old female first-time user of the ridehailing service by inappropriately touching her, asking repeatedly for a kiss, grabbing her arm and telling her to be his friend on Snapchat, state police said.

Troopers charged Junior Clarke of Lawrence with indecent assault, assault and annoying or accosting a person of the opposite sex for his behavior during the sunrise ride Saturday in his brown 2007 Toyota Camry, police said.

The woman, who requested a driver shortly before 5 a.m., was greeted by Clarke — who police said insisted she sit up front with him during the ride from Methuen to Norwood.

Minutes into their jaunt to the woman’s friend’s house in Norwood, police say, Clarke kept asking her to kiss him, asked her personal questions, touched her inappropriately, made obscene statements — then grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him, police said.

The woman told police she resisted and Clarke gave up a few minutes before they arrived in Norwood.

Although the woman’s friend called the cops, state police say Clarke drove off before they arrived.

Troopers tracked Clarke to his house on Saturday and interviewed him at the Andover barracks, where he was booked and posted a $40 bail fee.

Clarke is expected to be arraigned tomorrow in Woburn District Court.

An Uber spokeswoman said the driver has since been “banned from the platform” and acknowledged in a statement that “no person should have to go through what’s been described.”

The company said it is working with state police to aid the investigation.