Uber has been called out in the past by blind customers and advocacy groups for the blind for drivers who refused to transport service animals, settling a lawsuit over that issue in May with the company promising to take steps to prevent such discrimination. But it seems some drivers still don’t understand that they’re required to accept service animals, with police in Orlando arresting an Uber driver who allegedly drove away from blind passengers with guide dogs.
According to an Orange County Sheriff’s Office arrest report cited by the Orlando Sentinel, an Uber driver hit a blind man standing in the door frame of his van, and laughed when deputies arrested him for refusing to take the man’s service dog (note: the dogs in the photo above were not involved in this story).
The passenger told police he’s 100% blind, and had ordered an Uber van to pick up him and his group of blind friends and their dogs from a restaurant on July 4.
When the Uber arrived, the man said he opened the front passenger door, and the driver said he wouldn’t be taking them anywhere, saying, “I don’t take dogs.”
The customer says he explained that the dogs were service animals, not pets, but that the driver told him, “I don’t care,” and then started to move the van forward, according to the report. He told police the door frame hit his left side, and that he started yelling at the driver to stop for fear he’d be dragged along with the van.
A valet worker nearby also told police he saw the van pulling away and that he heard shouting. He called police on the customer’s request.
Police said the Uber driver laughed during his arrest, as if he “didn’t fully understand that he had broken the law.”
He was charged with failing to transport a blind person with a service dog and battery.
Uber driver refused to take blind man, service dog, deputies say [Orlando Sentinel]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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