Polk sheriff: Uber driver was justified in fatal shooting

An Uber driver fatally shot a man who threatened him about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday on Dundee Road in Winter Haven, according to the Polk County Sheriff ’s Office.

The driver, Robert Westlake, 38, was not arrested. Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters the shooting was clearly justified under Florida’s “stand your ground” law.

“This is a justifiable homicide all day long," Judd said. “You have the right to defend yourself. This is a classic ‘stand your ground’ case.”

Westlake had picked up a female passenger early Tuesday from the Grove Lounge on U.S. Highway 27.

The passenger had driven herself to the Grove Lounge, but later became too inebriated to operate her vehicle, so a female patron at the bar helped her to an Uber , authorities said.

After the passenger left in the Uber, the woman who helped her began receiving texts from her “onagain, off-again” boyfriend, Jason Boek, 34, investigators said.

He apparently thought it was his girlfriend — not the drunk woman — who was in the Uber, authorities said.

In his texts, Boek said he “was going to pursue the Uber and then beat up the man driving,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

The female passenger inside the Uber and Westlake had both never met Boek before, the statement said.

Boek, driving a Ford F-250, chased down Westlake’s Hyundai Elantra and tried to run him off the road, authorities said. A dashboard camera in Westlake’s car captured the showdown.

The video shows the truck stopping in front of Westlake’s car.

Boek is then seen stepping out of the truck with something in his right hand. It was later revealed Boek was holding his mobile phone, according to the Sheriff ’s Office.

“You know I have a pistol?” Boek can be heard saying in the recording. “Do you want me to f------ shoot you?”

Westlake, who is a concealed weapon permit holder and a licensed armed security guard, pulled out a handgun and fired one shot at Boek, according to the Sheriff ’s Office.

The dash cam shows the encounter lasted five seconds after Boek stepped out of his vehicle.

Westlake called 911 and cooperated with authorities, Judd said at a press conference Wednesday.

The sheriff said Westlake’s argument that he was acting in self-defense is only enhanced by the combination of evidence found in the texts Boek sent to his girlfriend and Westlake’s dash cam.

“It helps to create a perfect ‘stand your ground’ for the Uber driver, Robert Westlake,” Judd said.

The Sheriff’s Office said Boek has a criminal history, including aggravated battery, battery, burglary, marijuana possession, forgery, larceny, resisting arrest, and violation of probation.

“The Uber driver did the right thing to protect himself and ostensibly the passenger,” Judd said. “At the end of the day, the message is clear: don’t mess with the Uber driver.”