Authorities have charged a San Francisco UberX driver with battery, malicious mischief, and vandalism after "forcibly" pulling a female passenger out of the car and throwing her iPhone down the street. The victim claims it took Uber 20 hours to call her back.

The incident occurred over directions. It began after the 39-year-old driver Martin Hynek, who reportedly struggles with English, told the victim "I need address for GPS." According to KBCW, the victim told Hynek which block she needed to go to. But after just two blocks of driving, Hynek pulled over and "demanded that she get out of the car before forcibly pulling her out."

"I put my head down and was texting, and the next think I know we're stopped and he's running to my side of the car cussing, telling me to get the f out of his car. He grabs my arm, I take that hand and I hold it up with my phone to take a picture. He lets go, grabs the phone and throws it down the street," the victim said.

The victim recovered her broken phone to make a copy of the name and photo of the driver.

There has been increased public scrutiny of Uber in San Francisco after another driver bashed a passenger's head with a hammer following a dispute over directions last month. Following that assault, Forbes discovered that Uber provides its drivers with minimal training and charges them upwards of $65 for courses that teach "customer skills."

KBCW reports that Uber deactivated Hynek pending an internal investigation, will refund the victim's short ride, and will replace her broken phone.

Update 4:00pm: According to SFist, "a commenter identifying himself as Hynek" posted to the site, denying the accusations:

I picked this lady at her place. She got in the car and told me to go to Clay street. She was alreadyupset, so I started driving and intended to ask for the exact address when driving. She wanted me to drive, but she did not wanted to give me the needed end location. I asked her for the specific address or the cross street, so I can put it in my GPS. She refused to give me exact address, so I asked her for cross street again, She refused to give it to me as well. At this point I was driving without knowing where to, so I asked her very politely again about cross street. She refused to tell me where she actually wants to go about five times.

At that point she got very upset and she started telling me about how people like me should not be driving for not knowing the city, etc,...At this point the whole situation got very dangerous. there was heavy traffic, the lady repeatedly refused to give me the end location and she got really upset and even aggressive. Let me remind you that people can get really easily in traffic accident in such situation. My ability to focused on the road was greatly diminished. [...]

I have been driving for Uber almost 2 years. I did over 40 000 miles my first year alone and this has never happened before. If she did the similar thing in some restaurant, bar or other place, I am sure she would have to leave as well.

In the comment, Hynek says he asked his passenger to leave the car, but he never forced her to do so. She allegedly only left the vehicle when he threatened to call the police.

He says when police officers arrived, "they talked to the girl for about half an hour" and gave him an unspecified ticket with a court date.

It is worth noting that an SFPD spokesperson confirmed the story. In a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle, Officer Albie Esparza says"the suspect got out of the driver seat, opened up the rear passenger door and grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her out of the vehicle...The victim tried taking a picture and he allegedly grabbed the phone and threw it on the street. She then flagged an officer down."

To contact the author of this post, please email kevin@valleywag.com.

Screenshots: KBCW