Uber driver kidnapped, carjacked overnight in Detroit

[FrodosPet]

Anyone out there driving rideshare or cab, PLEASE be careful. Always have an escape plan. Be careful at traffic lights so you are not trapped. Try to stay in the centermost travel lane and stay back a few feet from the car ahead of you, so you can turn and go if needed. Try to avoid driveways, dead ends, or anything else that keeps you from being able to floor it out of there. And if your inner voice says "this ain't right", MOVE!!! GO GO GO!!! Don't try to prove it wrong.
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Uber driver kidnapped, carjacked overnight in Detroit

http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/uber-driver-kidnapped-carjacked-overnight-in-detroit

11:29 AM, Aug 7, 2016

Detroit police are investigating after an Uber driver was kidnapped and carjacked on the city's west side early Sunday morning.

According to police, the suspect ordered an Uber around 3:54 a.m. in the area of Schoolcraft and Schaefer. The driver, a 30-year-old man in a 2008 Lincoln Navigator then picked the suspect up.

That's when police say the suspect ordered the victim to drive to a nearby Chase Bank and withdraw $2,000 from the ATM.

The victim then gave the suspect $120 in cash of his own money, and wrestled the gun away from the suspect. The suspect was able to get control of the vehicle and took off, and the victim rolled out of the vehicle uninjured.

~ snip ~

[underpants]

1. So picking up hitchhiker has a down side?

[FrodosPet]

2. Who would have thought?

The good news is, the criminally evil are only a small part of the world.

So people still hitchhike? Definitely not like in the 70s. As a young, foolish teenager, I used to hitchhike around town, and even took a couple trips from Michigan to Georgia. I rarely see anyone anymore.

[whatthehey]

3. Man that's NEVER happened to a cabbie...

[FrodosPet]

4. Uber drivers ARE cabbies!

They are undercover, unmarked, plain clothes cabs. They go to a random place, pick up people or packages, and deliver them to a specified location in exchange for pay. Graphics on the cars, bond plates or medallions, etc is just fluff, and the "title" rideshare driver does not change the fact that Uber is another very very big cab service that was smart enough to offload fleet expenses on their drivers.

They both have exactly the same risk, which makes the job more dangerous than being a police officer or fire fighter. Commercial fishing and the lumber industry are two of the very few jobs even more dangerous than being a rideshare/cab driver.

[LanternWaste]

5. No True Scottish Cabbie

No True Scottish Cabbie.

[FrodosPet]

7. A Scottish Cabbie!

That could either be the best ride of one's life, or the worst.

[Initech]

6. Why am I reminded of the Tom Cruise flick Collateral?