https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSIzKhUtZgg
If you remember back in November, footage hit online that seemed to show the hassles of being an Uber driver. In the clip, you witnessed a very drunken passenger refused to give his destination and then proceed to assault the driver after being told to exit the vehicle. The clip went viral and the passenger, Benjamin Golden, was arrested and charged with assault and public intoxication. And to make matters worse, he also lost his job with Taco Bell / Yum Brands due to the incident.
Initially, it was reported that Golden would be accepting full responsibility for his actions in the video. That has seemed to change since the initial phases in November and now Golden is claiming that Edward Caban illegally filmed him and is responsible for any injuries he suffered, according to NBC News:
Golden’s lawyer Courtney Pilchman told CNBC on Friday that she also has informed prosecutors she will seek to have Caban’s video of the attack barred from evidence in the criminal case against Golden on the grounds that the recording was allegedly illegally made by the driver.
Pilchman said that Caban, 23, seems to be “quite the opportunist,” and that “there’s very little truth to the damages that he claims,” which include post-traumatic stress and claims that he lives in fear after his violent confrontation with Golden.
“I don’t believe he has any of those,” she said.
The actual lawsuit was filed in December, but the details were not made public until now. According to NBC News, it represents a sharp change in reaction to the incident and allegedly places most of the blame on the driver, Caban — who quit Uber shortly after the incident.
When asked for comment, Caban’s lawyer seems to think that Golden’s lawsuit is a non-issue:
It just tells me how disingenuous Golden was on his apology tour,” Morrell said. “What’s he want to apologize for if everything was the fault of Edward?”
Morrell also said that Caban had told Golden he was recording their ride. The lawyer also said that he believes that the state penal code only applies to audio recording, not video recording.
“He lost his job because of the video” portion of the record, which showed the violence, Morrell said. The lawyer said the audio portion did not play a role in Golden getting fired.
Hard to say where this will end up, but it’s safe that both sides are far from being done with their legal fight.
(Via NBC News)