Uber driver pepper sprays attacker

AN UBER driver fought off a drunken attacker with a blast of pepper spray to the face in a shocking incident captured on the car’s dash camera.

Uber driver pepper sprays attacker

AN UBER driver has fought off a drunken attacker with a blast of pepper spray to the face in a shocking incident captured on the car’s dash camera.

California man Benjamin Golden was arrested on Friday on charges of public intoxication and assault after video of the attack was posted to YouTube by Uber driver Edward Caban, the Orange County Register reports.

In the video, Mr Caban, 23, repeatedly asks Mr Golden, 32, for directions. He eventually pulls over into a shopping centre car park lot and asks him to leave the car.

Mr Golden begins slapping the driver, pulling his hair and pushing his head towards the car window, before Mr Caban pulls out pepper spray and uses it on the attacker.

Friday evening, shortly past 8 p.m., 32-year old Benjamin Golden had requested he be picked up by an Uber driver from the bar he was at in Newport Beach. While being transported, Golden was unable to clearly give directions, to the Uber driver, where he wished to be driven. The driver stopped in the parking lot at 1835 Newport Blvd. in Costa Mesa, and told Golden to exit the vehicle, ending his transportation. Upset, Golden punched and slapped the side of the driverÕs face. In self-defense, the driver pepper sprayed Golden. Police officers arrested Golden for assault and disorderly conduct charges, and booked him in CMPD Jail. Courtesy of Costa Mesa PD

In the video description, Mr Caban said the passenger had refused to give him his address, faded in an out of consciousness, refused to put his seatbelt on and become belligerent and aggressive.

“I didn’t feel comfortable when I picked him up and I no longer wanted him in the car at this point,” he wrote.

“I grabbed the pepper spray from my centre console and put it under my right thigh and flipped my camera around and, as I always do when my spidey senses start tingling, made a U-turn, then pulled into a nearby well lit shopping centre, and asked him to get out of the car.

“He insisted on continuing, even though I had already ended the ride. We went back and fourth a bit before I told him if he didn't get out I would call the police. At which point he opened his door and began beating me over the head.

“I fumbled with the safety on the pepper spray while trying to protect my face with my other arm, I broke free from him grabbing me by the hair on the back of my head, and sprayed his face until he got out of the car, at which point I left the vehicle.

“Uber drivers don’t get paid enough to deal with this s***.”