Uber driver pulls gun on drunk passenger

AN UBER driver has been charged with assault after he pulled a handgun on a drunken passenger who he feared would vomit in his $100,000 Lexus.

Uber driver pulls gun on passenger

AN UBER driver has been charged with assault after he pulled a handgun on a drunken passenger who he feared would vomit in his car.

The incident occurred on Friday night when Florida man Patrick McDonald, 67, attempted to yank his passenger, Shane Fabry, 27, out of his Lexus, The Smoking Gun reports.

According to police, McDonald was driving Mr Fabry and his friends home about 8pm when Mr Fabry asked him to pull the car over “in the event that he began to vomit”.

After stopping the car, Mr Fabry advised he was “feeling better and no longer felt like he was going to be sick”, police said, but McDonald allegedly refused to continue the trip.

According to police, the driver “told the victim that he needed to get out the car and he was not to throw up” in the $US75,000 ($106,613) car.

McDonald allegedly opened the rear driver side door and attempted to pull Mr Fabry out by his arm, at which point the pair got into a “verbal altercation”.

Mr Fabry told police McDonald took an “aggressive fighting stance”, before reaching into the driver side of the car and taking out a black semiautomatic handgun.

“The defendant told the victim that the reason he was not afraid of him was because he had a gun,” the police statement says. “The victim and witness both swore in their written statement that the defendant pointed the gun directly at the victim.”

One of the other passengers stepped between the pair and managed to defuse the situation. McDonald was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and misdemeanour battery.

He admitted to grabbing the gun out of the car, but denied pointing it at Mr Fabry and said he “only grabbed it because he was in fear of his life”.

When asked how exactly he was in fear, “he said because they were talking about ‘sticking d**** in his ear’”, the police statement says.

“This driver’s account has been deactivated as we continue to gather the facts regarding this incident,” Uber said in a statement to Consumerist. “We stand ready to provide law enforcement with any information that would be helpful to their investigation into this matter.”

McDonald will appear in court on February 26.

According to The Smoking Gun, Mr Fabry posted a link on his Facebook page to news article about the incident, with one of his friends commenting: “Nice ... You should have puked in that s***!!” Another said: “You shoulda s*** too. LOL.”

The post has since been removed.

Originally published as Uber driver pulls gun on drunk passenger