A Southern California Lyft driver recently captured on video an alleged assault by seemingly intoxicated passengers who harassed and kicked him during a ride and questioned who “let him in the country.”
The Times confirmed the incident is under investigation by the California Highway Patrol, which said the driver, who is from Westminster, was verbally and physically assaulted.
The Highway Patrol said the incident unfolded around midnight on Aug. 19.
A Lyft driver picked up two women who requested a ride from a restaurant in Newport Beach, according to Fox 11, which first reported the incident. The driver identified himself to the news outlet only as Tinh.
Tinh said the two women reeked of alcohol and, at times, slurred their words.
The dashcam video shows, when the car is on Highway 55 near Highway 73 in Orange County, one of the women sitting in the back seat puts her feet on the middle console between the front passenger and driver seats.
When the driver asks the woman to remove her feet from the area, saying it could be dangerous, the exchange turns sour.
The woman calls him profanities, and asks, “Who let you in here?”
Moments later, the passenger kicks the driver in the head. Her fellow passenger does nothing to stop her. The woman then leans forward and tries to take the driver’s coffee and mess with his other belongings, shouting, “Loser! That’s what you get, b—.”
Tinh told Fox 11, “I am just a normal driver and, I am legal to live in America.”
According to the California Highway Patrol, the agency is working to identify the two female passengers.
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