Uber Driver Loses Licence After Been Accused Of Throwing Couple Out Of The Car For Kissing
Alex Iovine, 26, and Emma Pichl, 24, live together in Manhattan and have been dating for nearly two years. According to them, they were heading home on Saturday after celebrating a friend’s birthday at a Brooklyn bar. Lovine says she and her girlfriend were sitting on opposite sides of the back seat when they kissed. The accused the uber driver of kicking them out of the car after this.
The driver’s taxi license, required to drive for Uber in New York City, has been suspended as the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission investigates what happened.
“The middle seat was open. We were just having a conversation throughout the ride and, at one point, we leaned over into the middle and peck-kissed. That’s genuinely all it was” Lovine told CNN.
However Uber lists community guidelines on its website, which specify that “you shouldn’t touch or flirt with other people in the car,” and that there’s “no sexual conduct with drivers or fellow riders, no matter what.” But both Iovine and Pichl say they kissed once, and were not touching inappropriately. “We understand that someone would feel uncomfortable if people were making out in the car, but that’s not what was going on here” Iovine says.
The two women said several minutes after their peck, the driver pulled over onto the side of a Manhattan road, away from their destination, walked over to the rear passenger side door and opened it, telling them to get out. In video posted to Iovine’s Facebook page, you hear the women asking the driver, “What’s the issue?” The driver says: “It’s illegal. You don’t do that.” One of the women responds: “Kissing is not illegal.” The driver says: “Yeah, it is illegal. You don’t do that here in the car.” He later added, “It’s disrespectful.”
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission identified the driver as Ahmad el Boutari. According to a screenshot of his profile, he had a 4.67 rating and received dozens of commendations on the app for “excellent service.”
A spokesman for New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission says el Boutari has been licensed since 2014, and that his license has been suspended after this incident, pending the outcome of the TLC’s investigation. El Boutari told the New York Daily News that he was uncomfortable with the couple’s behavior in his car on the whole, not just with the kiss. He said they played loud videos on their phones and that one of the women put her feet up on the seats. “It’s my own car. I didn’t feel comfortable with them,” he told the newspaper, adding that he asked the couple to stop kissing. Iovine told the Daily News they didn’t behave inappropriately. “We would never disrespect someone else’s car in such manner and we always handle ourselves appropriately in public,” Iovine said.
Uber however refunded their $15 fare. NYC’s TLC, which governs taxis and other “for hire” cars, became aware of the incident after the New York Daily News Story, which included the video the women recorded.
