Female passenger pepper-sprays Uber driver because of the colour of his skin (VIDEO)



Sunday, August 4, 2024 - A video captured the moment a woman assaulted her Uber driver with pepper spray because of his skin color.

The driver claimed to The Post on Saturday, August 3, that the woman told her friend she was attacking him because he's "brown".

"Her friend, she is yelling, 'Jen, Jen, what the f–k, what are you doing? What’s going on?'" driver Shohel Mahmud recalled of the attack on Wednesday, July 31.

"Her friend is asking 'Why did you do that?' And she say, 'He’s brown.'"

Jennifer Guilbeault, 23, was riding in the backseat with another woman at Lexington Avenue and East 66th Street around 11:30 p.m. when she suddenly sprayed the 45-year-old driver in the eyes with the pepper spray.

Mahmud said he picked up the women in Midtown, New York City, and didn’t speak to them before the attack.

"They are talking to each other," he said. "I’m not talking to them, my job is to drive them. I start going straight down the Central Park Traverse, straight down to 65th and Lexington. Suddenly, this girl for no reason spray me with pepper spray."

The driver, who thought the women wanted to take his car and phone, jumped out after the attack began but the car kept moving at a slow speed so he hopped back inside, where she continued spraying him, he said.

"I mean this is totally ridiculous," he said. "I do nothing and she spray me. Pepper spray is illegal. She assault a driver for no reason. This is a hate crime."

The 45-year-old driver, who lives in Elmhurst, Queens, called 911 but his attacker began to flee, he said.

"She try to escape," he said. "But her friend she not going anywhere, she calling, 'Jen, come over here.' She go one block away, and police show up."

Guilbeault was hit with a desk appearance ticket for assault and will have to appear in court at an unknown date, cops said.

Police aren’t investigating the assault as a hate crime, a police spokesman said.

Mahmud told his family a little bit about the attack but it made his daughter very upset, he said. It’s also taking a toll on him.

"Mentally I’m not 100% OK, but I have to work," the driver said. "I have three kids, my wife, my mother live with me."

The driver, whose children are 17, 14, and 1, wants to tell his attacker to treat people better.

"This is 21st century," he said. “The world is smaller. People can work from anywhere, you can see video from anywhere.”

Watch the video below.

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