Seattle Police Clear Uber Driver of Rape Charge, But Not Sexual Assault
Seattle police have cleared an Uber driver of rape charges, but have kept the investigation into sexual assault "active and ongoing." Komo News, which had access to the police report, said the victim had been visiting Seattle from Texas and was on her way to her fiancé's home.
The incident occurred around 2AM in the morning when the driver pulled over near an unknown park:
The victim said she was then raped and told officers she was afraid her attacker would kill her if she didn't go along with it.
According to the report, the victim got back into the car following the assault and begged the driver to drop her off anywhere. She was dropped off in the 300 block of 15th Avenue East, according to Seattle police.
The victim knocked on the door of a nearby home and asked for help, saying she had been raped. The resident refused to let her in and called police.
Officers arrived to find the victim crying on the home's porch; both her knees were scraped and it appeared her blouse had been ripped, according to the police report.
Although Seattle police used the victim's Uber receipt to get the name of the driver, SPD spokesperson Drew Fowler told Komo News that there was "no known connection" to Uber, which was recently valued at $18.2 billion and has been criticized both lack of standards when it comes to vetting drivers who use the app, as well as the company's unwillingness to take responsibility when its customers are put in harm's way.
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