Portland Uber driver held against her will by passenger

By Connor McCarthy

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    PORTLAND Oregon (KPTV) — A Portland Uber driver escaped a scary situation early Monday morning after her passenger pointed a weapon at her and told her to drive or he was going to kill her.

The driver, who goes bay ‘Kri’ to protect her and her family’s safety, told FOX 12 the passenger got in her car, immediately grabbed her phone, and then threatened to kill her if she didn’t do what he said. The man told her it was a gun, but Kri never saw it. But after four years of driving for Uber, Kri never imagined she would be in a situation where her life would be on the line.

“I truly did not believe I was going to make it out of the situation,” Kri said.

Kri was able to stay calm and began to drive. She said she drove from where she picked up the man at Southeast 26th Avenue and Powell Boulevard, and drove to a gas station on Southeast Grand Avenue. At three in the morning, she knew that 24-hour gas station would have people around help.

“I told him I needed my keys to pop the gas tank, I unbuckled my seat belt, hopped out and screamed at the top of my lungs,” Kri said.

Kri said a group of people at the gas station helped get the man out of her car. As he was walking away, the suspect allegedly fired a gun but thankfully no one was hit. Kri said she filed a police report that night and was hoping something would’ve done. But days after being taken hostage, she saw the same man walking near Southeast 26th Avenue and Powell where he called for an Uber.

“He’s walking freely, visible to everybody and there’s been no contact,” Kri said. “He hasn’t been arrested or anything I don’t feel like it’s being taken seriously, and it sucks.”

Kri said she called Portland police again but still hasn’t hear back. Now she wants to warn the community about a potentially dangerous man roaming a neighborhood with a parka and a school nearby.

“Gut-wrenching, just seeing him and I know it’s him, completely gut-wrenching,” Kri said.

FOX 12 reached out to Uber about Kri’s incident and they responded with this statement:

“What the driver endured is terrifying, and we are thankful she was able to escape. We banned the rider’s account as soon as we were made aware and stand ready to assist law enforcement with their investigation.”

Portland police said told FOX 12 in a press release that they’re still investigating what happened to Kri and anyone with information is asked to call detectives.

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