Uber driver's racist slur caught on video after passengers refuse to end trip early

It was supposed to be a fun night out but the Uber ride to get there turned ugly when the driver hurled a racial slur at Helin Turk's friend, who's Black — calling him the N-word.

"I was shocked," the Toronto university student told Go Public. "I was saying, 'How can you even say that?' Then he told me to shut up when I was defending my friend."

Turk, 22, complained and sent Uber the video, then repeatedly followed up asking what the company was doing about it, and if the driver was still with the ride-hailing company.

She says — instead of answers — she got charged $282 on her credit card for damage allegedly done to the driver's car.

"It doesn't make sense," she said. "I didn't damage a [side] mirror and it's ridiculous to charge me out of the blue like that two weeks later." 

On its website, Uber has a detailed zero-tolerance policy on racism and discrimination. It says customer support agents get special training on handling cases like this. It also says it's made its reporting system easier.

But the company failed to "walk the talk" in this case, said Colleen James, CEO of Divonify, a company that provides equity, diversity and inclusion training for individuals and businesses.

"The problem that started everything was never addressed [with the passengers]. Instead, the company was quick to impose this $300 charge," James said. "I mean, who's the perpetrator and who's the victim here?"

Uber never told Turk what action, if any, it was taking and never asked to speak with her friend. It later told Go Public it suspended the driver from the app as soon as it heard about the incident, saying it then completed an investigation "following a review of the full, unedited version of the video by our specialized safety team."

But asked when, exactly, it suspended the driver — Turk had to report him several times (via phone, email, the app and Twitter) because, she says, the company had not responded — Uber refused to provide details.  

It's also not clear if the driver has been suspended permanently. 

James questions what kind of investigation Uber actually did, since it didn't contact the victim, Turk's friend. 

"I mean, it's clear racism, right? There's no two ways about it," James said. "They didn't communicate with the person who was affected by the behaviour. And that is where the problem lies."

Turk's friend tells Go Public he's disturbed by what happened. He asked us not to use his name, saying the focus should be on Uber.