MIAMI – Police are reminding rideshare app drivers to call them if dealing with an unruly passenger.
Miami police made the statement after they were called to a scene early Monday morning involving an Uber driver and her passenger.
Police said they received a call of two women fighting and upon arrival, discovered that both had injuries from an altercation that occurred near the intersection of Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 82nd Street.
Solange Pace, the Uber driver who is also an artist and yoga instructor, told Local 10 News that she drives for Uber to raise money for her personal philanthropy causes and was “fighting for her life” after a belligerent passenger first refused to leave her vehicle.
“I have never had to fight for my life. Like, this is not my thing,” said Pace. “It was like out of a horror movie.”
The incident report states that the passenger became verbally aggressive towards Pace and demanded her to drive faster when she began recording the incident on her cellphone.
“She was very angry, and I guess I was her next target,” Pace said. “After demanding for me to go faster, I turned around and explained I don’t work for her, and at that point, she would have to step out of my car, so I pulled over.”
Moments later, an argument ensued between both individuals, which caused Pace to stop her vehicle and ask the passenger to exit, at which point she declined, the report stated.
Pace told police after the passenger refused to exit her vehicle, she opened the back door and threw her belongings out of the Tesla.
Police said this led to a physical altercation which led Pace to sustain a twisted knee, neck, broken breast implant and multiple cuts on her face.
Pace said after bleeding from the cuts on her face, she managed to crawl back to her Tesla and as she locked her door, the passenger, who was wearing a short skirt and looking “naked” and angry leaped onto the hood of her car.
“She climbed on the windshield, and she is like smacking the glass and grabbing onto the wipers,” said Pace. “I am reversing, I slam on the breaks, she falls, and I see the scrapes on her knees.”
“I thought she was going to go fetch for her stuff so could get her out of my car but instead she grabbed me by my hair,” she added. “My glasses got completely destroyed against the floor.”
“I started seeing blurry because she was kicking me on my chest. That’s the moment I am telling her ‘I have heart problems and I need to make it home to my kids,”' added Pace.
Pace told Local 10 News that doctors had to glue her face to repair the extensive damage.
After not being able to determine who the primary aggressor was in the incident, no one was charged or arrested.
Miami Police Officer Mike Vega, who responded to the incident, told Local 10 News that the case was sent to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office for further review.
“The state attorney’s office will be able to review any video or get statements from both parties to determine who was the primary aggressor. If they can make that determination, and then proceed with charges, that is where we would get back involved in the case,” said Vega.
Pace said she plans to meet with prosecutors to pursue the matter.
“I have to, I have to, I mean, I have nothing to hide. What happened is what happened, and I wish this doesn’t happen to anybody,” she said.
Miami police offered safety tips for rideshare drivers to prevent any further incidents like Pace’s from occurring.
“Rideshare drivers, if you get involved in something similar, an unruly passenger, please let us handle it. What you can do is turn off your vehicle, get away from the vehicle while you are calling police, just in case the passenger wants to make any type of aggression towards you,” said Vega.
Vega also explained why an arrest wasn’t made following the incident.
“The officers who arrived on scene saw injuries on both parties by seeing this he could not determine who the actual primary aggressor is,” he said. “The Uber driver committed a crime by removing the items so when he put it together, he felt like he didn’t have enough to make an arrest, so he documented it, notified our detectives, and referred them to the state attorney’s office.”
“Just because an arrest is not made on the scene doesn’t mean an arrest is not going to be made or charges are not forthcoming depending on if the state attorney’s office has enough documentation to make a determination,” he added.
Police have not identified the passenger involved in the incident and therefore, Local 10 News was not able to reach out to that person for comment.