A Washington state Uber driver allegedly raped and kidnapped an “intoxicated” passenger before the rider’s gun-toting father and family came to her rescue during the heinous assault.
Ahmed Ali, 58, appeared badly bruised and bandaged in court Monday where he faced one charge of rape in the second degree and kidnapping in the first degree with sexual motivation aggravating circumstance.
Ali picked up a “highly intoxicated” woman out drinking with friends at bars around the Olympia area early Saturday, according to Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.
A friend of the victim had ordered her a ride off the app because she was too drunk to return home alone and watched her get into Ali’s Uber at 12:17 a.m. before heading to a different bar, investigators told KOMO News.
But, instead of driving her to her home — which was about 12 minutes from the bar — Ali allegedly took advantage of the vulnerable passenger.
The driver reportedly used the Uber app to make it look like he had dropped the victim off at her destination.
The alleged predator drove her to a secluded, well-known fishing spot off the Nisqually River outside of Fort Lewis Army base — about an hour from Seattle.
However, the victim’s friends arrived at her house about 30 minutes after she had been picked up and grew worried when she was not there.
Her friends alerted the victim’s father, who had his daughter’s location on the Life 360 app and hastily headed toward where she was with a pack of other concerned family members.
They found the woman naked in the back of the Uber being sexually assaulted.
Ali quickly tried to pull up his pants and scrambled into the front of the car to make his getaway, but the father, along with other relatives, began to “beat” him senselessly.
During the altercation, the enraged father reportedly pulled out a gun and fired two shots at Ali — both missing him.
Officials reported finding two shell casings in the area during their investigation.
A Thurston County Sheriff’s deputy then pulled over the Uber driver’s car and found him severely injured, bleeding heavily from his head and hands.
Paramedics took him to the hospital despite Ali telling them he didn’t need medical assistance, while other deputies got the whole picture from the victim’s family.
Deputies shared that the victim was too intoxicated to give consent and that she did not remember what happened after being picked up by Ali.
The Life 360 app used by her father to track her location showed that the victim’s phone had been on the move for 23 minutes and had passed the Uber dropoff point before heading to the secluded fishing spot.
“Marking (victim) as dropped off in the Uber app, yet continuing to transport her to another location, demonstrated (suspect’s) intent to conceal (victim’s) location where he believed no one could find her so that he could sexually assault her,” Thurston County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Rudy Breteler said in court Monday, according to KOMO News.
Thurston County Superior Court Judge John Skinder then slapped Ali with a $100K bail and ruled that the suspect must wear a GPS monitor if he posts bail.
The ride-sharing app called their driver’s alleged accusations “appalling” and “has no place in our society or on the Uber platform” in a statement to KOMO News.
“We take reports of this nature very seriously and removed the driver’s access to the platform as soon as we were made aware of the incident. We have a dedicated team standing ready to assist law enforcement with their investigation.”
Ali is scheduled to appear in an arraignment hearing on July 2.
