A woman who was captured by a video harassing and coughing against a California Uber driver has been arrested, while another woman is scheduled to turn herself in to police, authorities said.
Las Vegas police arrested 24-year-old Malaysia King, who faces charges of assault and battery, conspiracy, in addition to violating the health and safety code for attacking Uber driver Subhakar Khadka on Sunday according to the San Francisco Police Department.
Khadka recorded the incident showing King, who is sitting in the back seat dressed in red, and another woman, identified by police as 24-year-old Arna Kimiai, coughing at him and calling him desecration after refusing. to put on masks.
Kimiai has not yet been arrested, but her lawyers say she plans to surrender soon.
“We are pleased to learn that Ms. Kimiai intends to do the right thing and hand herself over to the nearest police agency, and we hope that will happen soon,” Lt. Tracy McCray said in a statement.
“The behavior captured in a video in this incident showed a disregard for the safety and well-being of an essential service worker in the midst of a deadly pandemic. We take this behavior very seriously in San Francisco and are committed to ensuring that it is do justice in this case, βMcCray continued.
The incident happened after Khadka picked up Kimiai, King and another woman in San Francisco around 12:45 a.m. Sunday.
Khadka asked one of the women to put on a mask, but she refused, so she decided to cancel the trip.
Then you can see an angry Kimiai in a video shouting at the driver, “Fk the masks!”
At one point, Kimiai grabs Khadka’s phone from the center of the board and then violently tears off her face mask, as the images show.
Police say the women also sprayed what is believed to be pepper spray inside Khadkaβs car.
Both Uber and Lyft have banned Kimiai as a result of the incident.