Uber Unhinged: Driver Says He’s ‘Not Ok’ After UES Pepper Spray Attack

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY – A passenger in an Uber, 23-year-old Jennifer Guilbeault, pepper sprayed her driver, Shohel Mahmoud, for no apparent reason, according to a report in CBS News.

At about 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 31, Guilbeault and a friend embarked on what should have been a quiet and unremarkable ride.

In video of the attack, the two appear comfortable, texting away on their phones.

Suddenly, Guilbeault lunges forward and pepper sprays Mahmoud in the eyes, grabbing his arm as he tries to escape.

“Jen! Jen! What the [expletive]!? What the [expletive] did you just do?” Guilbeault’s companion yells in the video, pulling Guilbeault back toward her seat.

“Get him out, get him out,” Guilbeault can be heard repeating.

Eventually, Guilbeault exits the vehicle, and stands by the passenger door of Mahmoud's minivan.

"Why did you do that?" Guilbeault’s friend asks.

Although Guilbeault’s answer is unclear, Mahmoud believes she can be heard telling her friend, “he’s brown.”

Guilbeault was arrested and charged with assault, according to CBS, and Uber said she's been banned from its platform.

Mahmoud, who drives full time for the ride-sharing service, said the incident has left him shaken. "My shoulder has muscle pain, there's that, and I'm mentally not OK," he told CBS.

Pepper spray stains are visible on the driver’s side door of Mahmoud’s minivan, and to protect himself from passengers, Mahmoud is considering installing a barrier in his car.

A father of three, Mahmoud has cut back on his hours since the attack, to prioritize his safety.

"She should be punished,” Mahmoud told CBS. “I'm human. I'm not a robot. Treat [me] like a human. I'm working [to] feed my family."

Uber has not released a safety report since 2022. The company’s most recent such report, covering 2019-2020, claims that “99.9% of Uber trips ended without any safety-related issue at all.”

However, the report only includes data about three types of incidents: motor vehicle fatalities, fatal physical assault, and sexual assault, none of which would have captured the pepper spray attack.