Video shows Uber driver beg for life as passenger assaults him
DARIEN — An Uber driver is still shaken after being assaulted when he dropped off two passengers Friday night on a quiet residential street in town.
The driver, Sijo George, captured the entire incident on his dash camera, which showed one of the male passengers repeatedly hitting and kicking him.
Darien Police Capt. Jeremiah P. Marron said Sunday the person in the video has been identified and the investigation remains ongoing.
Marron said the suspect had already fled the area when police arrived at the scene around 11:30 p.m. Friday.
“The passenger had fled the scene upon officers arrival and could not be located at the time,” Marron said. “This subject has since been positively identified and this incident remains under investigation.”
Marron said the victim, who he identified only as an Uber driver, was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
This is the second Darien incident involving an Uber driver in the past month. Police said a New York man was arrested after using racial slurs and threatening to hurt the driver after being picked up on Midbrook Lane on July 30.
George, who has worked for Uber on the side to support his family and to help pay for their first vacation, said there was minimal conversation between him and the two passengers late Friday night in the trip from downtown Stamford to Darien.
George said he was supposed to drop off the two passengers at separate locations, but he was confused when both men got out at the first location.
While one passenger went into his home, the video shows George asking the other person why he was getting out there as well.
The video shows the passenger responding by repeatedly asking George for his license before reaching into the car through the driver’s side window.
“Give me license,” the man said repeatedly, according to the video.
“Yeah, video me, video me!” the man yelled as George also captured part of the incident on his cellphone camera.
While still leaning into the car, the video shows the man punching George, who was yelling and calling out for help throughout the incident.
“Stop, please,” George pleaded with the man, according to the video.
As the two men continued to struggle, the passenger is seen on video opening the driver’s door and kicking George at least twice. The man then punched George several times in the side of the head, the video shows.
The man continued to assault George, asking him for his license and trying to grab something inside the car, the video shows. It remains unclear why the man wanted George’s license.
After running away, the man returned as George was standing outside his car trying to call police, the video shows.
While George was on the phone with police, the man began pulling on his shirt, the video shows.
“Don’t kill me, please!” George cried out repeatedly.
After several moments, the man left and George reported the incident to police and notified his wife by using the Find my iPhone app.
“I can hear the sobs and the inability to breathe and I thought, ‘Oh my god, is he in a ditch somewhere? After a few minutes, he was able to kind of get the words out and give me an address,” his wife, Maria George, said in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media.
While her friend came to watch their children, Maria George said she went to the scene. She said the other passenger, who was not involved in the attack, came outside with his parents to help police.
“The friend’s mom was very sweet and apologetic and the friend even said, ‘I’ve never seen him like this,’” Maria George said.
Maria George said they have received an outpouring of support from the community since the incident.
Her husband was back at work Sunday, managing the Darien restaurant he’s worked at for years. She said he’s physically recovered, but he remains mentally shaken up from the incident.
“I look at him and it breaks my heart,” she said. “He had the restraint to just not fight back, because we knew that would just end terribly for him and for us. He just was scared and did what what I believe and what he believes was the right thing, which is just to get through it.”