Tabetha Turner, a sports correspondent of Atlanta, claims that she was exposed to pepper on the face and physically attacked by Uber driver during the weekend after a car temperature dispute.
Uber driver, which was identified by the police in the name of Mericole Smith, faces accusations of a misdemeanor and a simple battery after Hapeville police said that a video clip of the Saturday accident showed that it was the mattress and attacking physically. Police said that an arrest warrant for Samith would be issued.
Turner’s lawyer, Miguel Dominguez, told a press conference on Wednesday that the quarrel occurred when Turner was driven to her home from Hartsfeld -Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Smith, who accused Turner of the escalation of the situation in the viral Tiktok video, did not want a request to comment on Thursday.
According to Dominguez, Turner’s Uber Request, which allows travelers to customize the trip. Uber says that passengers who use this service can allow the driver to know if they want to speak while riding and put a preference for temperature.
Domingz said that due to the burning temperatures in Atlanta, Turner wanted to “cool Uber.” But when Smith arrived, the windows were rolled and the air conditioner was not operated.
Domingoyes said that when Turner asked the windows to be put up, Smith escalated the position.
He told reporters: “The driver did not respond orally, but it put the air conditioner, but it did not raise the windows. Thus the ride continued, it is clear that the car did not cool.” “My client was really hot, and the smell of sweat was smelling from it, the driver again faced, and I asked the windows to be put out.
Domingz said the driver suddenly withdrew in the emergency corridor on the highway and ordered Turner to get out of the car. He said that Turner did not go out and ordered the driver to either return her to the airport, where he was safe, or he called the police and recovered her money.
According to the lawyer, Turner was “completely calm.” He claimed that Smith came out of the car, removed Turner bags, then tried to “remove my clients physically from the car by seizing the book bag that he was carrying and entered into a conflict.”
In her video, Smith said she turned the air conditioner after Turner hung on the heat of the car. However, she made it clear that it does not raise windows because it sometimes has sick passengers. Smith said the windows were slightly cracked.
According to Smith, Turner started screaming at her, so Turner told her that she would return her to the airport and end the flight.
“This wasn’t good enough for her,” Smith said in her video. “It explodes. She is angry at the back seat, and she stumbles, so I love. I love, in fact, yes, I will need you to get out here. So I pulled in Hapeville, we are out of the highway.”
In the video, Smith said she told Turner that Uber would respond, but Turner refused to leave. Because the situation was escalating, Smith reported a passer -by and asked them to call the number 911.
Smith said that she opened the car door and once again asked Turner to go out. She claimed that Turner went “in her bag to get a weapon.” According to Samith, she returned to her car and Turner’s nomination “in self -defense”.
But Domingz said that Smith Bieber had headed his client in an unjustified attack. In a 30 -second video clip released by his office, Smith was seen telling Turner to get out of the car.
Then it tends to the back seat because it curses and screams in Turner, as the video shows.
The accident continued to escalate when both women got out of the car.
According to Dominguez, Smith physically assaulted Turner and pulled some of her hair. In her video, Smith claimed that Turner ran towards her and tried to “overcome” her eye. Smith said in her video, which contains more than two million views, that she had to get a stitches on her eyes.
According to the police report, Smith began the physical assault, and its scratching turned as he tried to defend itself.
