CHICAGO — An Uber driver has been charged after he allegedly locked a woman in his car in an attempt to force her to have sex with him, police said.
The driver, 44-year-old Muhammad Fahim, of the 6100 block of North Washtenaw Avenue, has been charged with felony kidnapping and unlawful restraint, according to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.
Fahim picked up the 19-year-old woman, who was an Uber customer, around 7:30 p.m. on July 4 in the 1600 block of North Lake Shore Drive, according to police.
After the woman's ride request with the app was deleted, she offered to pay Fahim cash for the ride, a prosecutor said during a Saturday hearing, according to the Tribune.
Instead, Fahim allegedly locked the doors and "told her that the fare had been canceled, and if she preformed sexual acts with him he would take her to her location," according to police.
The woman refused, and when Fahim's car slowed down, she escaped. She then took another Uber to the 500 block of North Dearborn Street where she was dropped off and called police to report the incident, police said.
Fahim was stopped for a traffic violation last week, and police then were alerted to the July 4 incident, according to the Tribune.
Fahim was charged with unlawful restraint and received several driving citations, police said.
His bail was set at $100,000, and he is due in court Thursday.
Fahim has been banned permanently from the company, a spokeswoman for the ride-share app said.
"We take these types of reports very seriously," an Uber representative said. "What's been reported is horrifying, and we'll work with police and provide any information to them that would be useful to the investigation."
Uber said "no person should have to go through" what was reported, and it would hand over any relevant information, such as trip and GPS data, to law enforcement.
The company declined to share more details regarding the investigation.
