SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A police source informed KPIX Wednesday night that two of the women featured in a video of a confrontation during an Uber ride in San Francisco that went viral are now being sought for assault and theft.
The Uber driver said the women called him racist comments, picked up his phone and took off his mask. San Francisco police also said one of the women sprayed what was believed to have been pepper spray in the vehicle and towards the driver after getting out of the car.
READ ALSO: Maskless Uber passengers attack, cough, pepper spray driver after refusing their service
Some of that activity can be seen in the video the driver posted showing the confrontation.
The law enforcement source identified the two suspects as the Malaysian king – the woman in the red behind the front passenger seat in the video – and Arna Kimiai, the woman sitting behind the driver who was on the phone at one point in the clip.
A woman is seen coughing on an Uber driver. (Subharkar Khadka)
The driver said he picked up the women from San Bruno Avenue and Silver Avenue at approximately 12:45 PM on Sunday afternoon. It got heated after he told one of the passengers to wear a mask.
KPIX 5 first reported on the story on Monday evening. The video was shot on Sunday by the driver, identified as 32-year-old Subhakar Khadka. In it, three women in the backseat are seen berating the driver with profanity. At one point, the woman now identified as Arna Kimiai who was coughing on the driver also tore off the face mask he was wearing.
Warning: disturbing video, explicit language (Source: Subhakar Khadka)
The driver said he had stopped to tell the women to wear face masks and the driver was heard telling the women to get out of his car. The video begins with a woman saying to the driver, “F – the masks!” and then cough at him repeatedly.
Khadka told KPIX that it was the woman wearing red, now identified as King, who sprayed some sort of pepper spray into his car after she got out.
The video of the women abusing the Uber driver and the story surrounding the showdown has since gone viral. Both Uber and Lyft banned the user from the incident.
READ ALSO: Lyft Bans Maskless Uber Passenger Coughing, Attacked Driver; Woman posts videos taken before the incident
Passenger Kimiai also posted a video from her perspective behind Khadka, claiming that he was trying to get her and her friends out of his car while on the highway.
Kimiai’s Instagram account @keepinupwforeign posted a series of videos that appeared to precede the incident on Sunday, but the account has since been made private.
Kimiai also apparently posted a video to social media expressing some regret for her actions, but she continues to rant and blame the driver for ending her ride and demanding her group leave his vehicle.
In that video, Kimiai threatens to sue Uber and ends the video by saying, “That’s why I’m taking Lyft.”
The California anti-mask who coughed on a driver says she plans to sue Uber pic.twitter.com/IjlGs0wnRg
– Fifty Shades of Whey (@ davenewworld_2) March 9, 2021
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help Uber driver Subhakar Khadka after Uber offered him just $ 120 to have his car cleaned from the pepper spray used in his car during the incident.