SAN FRANCISCO — A woman accused of aggravated assault of a San Francisco Uber driver was arrested Thursday in Las Vegas, authorities said.
Malaysia King, 24, was arrested by the Las Vegas Police Department on a warrant for assault with a caustic chemical, assault and battery, conspiracy, and violation of health and safety code, KRON-TV reported.
King is one of three women accused in Sunday’s assault of Uber driver Subhakar Khadka, KTVU reported. The profanity-laced incident was caught on the driver’s dash camera.
Caution: Video in tweet below contains profanity.
SF UBER ASSUALT: Malaysia King, 24, now in custody for role in alleged assualt on SF Uber driver. She was arrested in Las Vegas. Second suspect, 24-year-old Arna Kimiai, remains outstanding. https://t.co/4BMcTJRvAb pic.twitter.com/7De7YmqFmO
— KTVU (@KTVU) March 12, 2021
A second woman, Arna Kimiai, has not been arrested, but her attorney said the 24-year-old plans to turn herself in, the television station reported.
“We’re glad to hear that Ms. Kimiai intends to do the right thing and turn herself into the nearest law enforcement agency, and we hope it happens promptly,” Lt. Tracy McCray, who heads the San Francisco Police Department’s Robbery Detail, told reporters. “The behavior captured on video in this incident showed a callous disregard for the safety and wellbeing of an essential service worker in the midst of a deadly pandemic. We take this conduct very seriously in SanFrancisco, and we’re committed to ensuring that justice is done in this case.”
Khadka, 32, reported that he picked up three Uber passengers -- King, Kimiai and an unnamed woman -- in San Francisco at 12:45 p.m. Sunday, KGO reported.
Khadka ended the ride after a few minutes because one of the passengers was not wearing a mask in compliance with public health orders, police said.
The Uber driver said he would not continue the ride unless all the passengers were wearing their masks, KRON reported.
Dash camera video shows the situation escalate after one of the women reaches over and tries to grab Khadka’s cellphone, according to KTVU. He was able to get his phone back and yells, “Don’t touch my property!”
The woman then snatches his mask and throws it in the front seat.
At one point the woman seated directly behind Khadka coughs and says, “You know? (Expletive) the mask. I got corona,” referring to the coronavirus, KTVU reported.
The passengers eventually exited the vehicle. One of them reached into the window and sprayed what was believed to be pepper spray at Khadka before fleeing the scene, the television station reported.
“You know the pepper spray that was sprayed inside my car, it was everywhere, it was literally everywhere,” Khadka told KGO.
Subhakar sought help from Uber to get his car cleaned but said at first, he was only offered $20 from the company, the television station reported. Uber then gave him $120.
A GoFundMe has been started for Subhkar.
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