Los Angeles, April 1 (IANS) An Uber driver in Colorado has been arrested after he tried to break into the home of a passenger he had dropped off at an airport.
Gerald Montgomery, 51, took the woman to Denver International Airport on Thursday, then returned to her home and “tried to break in through the back door with burglary tools”, said a spokesperson for the Denver Police Department, the Los Angeles Times reported.
He said the woman’s roommate was home at the time and confronted Montgomery, who fled. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted criminal burglary, a felony.
“Upon learning about this incident from our valued rider, we immediately deactivated the driver’s access to the platform, pending a full investigation,” Uber spokesperson Taylor Patterson said in an email.
“We remain committed to supporting Denver law enforcement in any way we can.”
Since Uber’s inception, a number of drivers for the popular ride-hailing service have been accused of criminal activity.
In February, Los Angeles police began investigating a driver accused of sexually assaulting a passenger in Mar Vista. Uber said the accused driver was “removed from the platform” while the case was being investigated.
On December 5, a Uber driver in India, Shiv Kumar Yadav, 32, allegedly raped a woman executive in the cab she hired at night to head back home.
According to Uber’s website, the company’s background checks for potential drivers include looking at federal, state, county and sex offender records.