AUSTIN — Teresa Moses said she’s been driving for rideshare companies for about two and a half years.
“It's paid entertainment,” Moses said.
It had been smooth sailing for the Uber driver until she picked up a passenger early Sunday morning.
“This is my office. I can't believe this is happening in my car right now,” she said, remembering the incident.
Moses said she pulled in to pick up a ride request at approximately 3:15 a.m.
“And I thought, ok this is going to be a gentleman's club run, deep breath, it could be a bachelor party, and those are always hilarious,” Moses said. “Everyone's always been pleasant.”
This time, she had to cut the trip short.
“I couldn't see his face in the rearview mirror. I turned around, and, when I did, he was leaning back,” she said, as she recalled being in complete shock.
Moses said he was masturbating in her back seat.
“And that's when I turned around, and I told him, ‘stop what you're doing, I've ended the ride, step away and close the door,’” Moses said firmly. “He asked if I was serious, I said ‘absolutely.’”
Moses said she drove off right after he got out of the car.
Moses said she called Uber support to figure out what to do next.
“(Uber support representative) said she was at a loss for words, and she didn’t really know what to tell me to do,” Moses said.
Moses filed a report with the Austin Police Department and shared her frustrations that Uber would not tell her the name of the passenger.
An Uber employee said they could not release a passenger’s private information, which includes full name and phone number.
Moses said she’s still in shock from it all, adding she still fears what could have happened.
“Being raped, or worse,” Moses said as her eyes started to well up. “It could've just gone so many different ways of wrong.”
The Austin Uber driver told KVUE she’ll consider changing the hours she drives for the company, but she said it’s hard to turn down the early morning rides.
“Because that's when the volume is,” Moses said. “You have to drive when there's riders needing rides.”
Police confirmed they are investigating her claims.
Uber provided this statement to KVUE:
"The offensive behavior the driver reported will not be tolerated. As soon as we were made aware of this incident, we removed the rider's access to the app"
Uber explained they could not disclose the outcome to the reporting party, due to their privacy policy.
The rideshare company added that drivers are provided with information on how to report the information to police and how the company will work with police during investigations.