A simple Uber car ride on Monday turned into a wild chase through the streets of Washington D.C. when the driver kidnapped his three passengers.
Ryan Simonetti, a New York-based CEO, was on his way to the city's Tysons Corner with two co-workers in an Uber car when the driver turned into a madman, drove through a red light and sped down Interstate 395 with a taxi inspector following them, the Washington Post reported.
"Was just kidnapped by an @uber driver in DC, held against my will, and involved in a high speed chase across state lines with police," tweeted Simonetti, head of the company Convene.
The ordeal began a little after 1 p.m. Monday as Simonetti was leaving a meeting at the Verizon Center. Simonetti said he ordered a car from Uber, a car-for-hire company based in San Francisco, to take them to Tysons Corner, the Post reported.
"I travel all over the country, wherever I go I use Uber," Simonetti told the newspaper.
Before entering the Uber car they saw the driver talking to a city taxi inspector. The inspector walked away and the Uber car drove off, but moments later the taxi inspector jumped in his vehicle and started following the driver.
Simonetti asked if they were being followed by police, to which the driver replied: "He's not a real cop."
The driver apologized and said he would have to run the next red light. He then went through the 9th Street Tunnel, floored the vehicle and went flying down I-395 with his passengers yelling at him to slow down so they could jump out.
But the driver wouldn't stop, saying if the inspector caught him he would get a $2,000 fine, according to the newspaper.
"It was insane," said Simonetti, who was in the front seat. "I physically tried to force his leg to hit the brake. I ripped off his pant leg...I said, 'Here's two options. You take this exit, or I'm going to knock the side of your head in.' "
The driver pulled over and let his captives out near an exit ramp before he turned around and went up the ramp in the wrong direction towards Virginia. The taxi inspector remained with the passengers, according to the Post.
Uber drivers are supposed to pick up passengers through the company's app. The inspector said he noticed the car had Virginia license plates and was checking to see if the driver was not finding passengers on the street, which is against D.C. law, the Post reported.
Neville Waters, a spokesman for the D.C. Taxicab Commission, told the Post the incident is under investigation. Uber said it "deactivated the driver pendig the outcome."
