US: $65,720 raised to help Uber driver who was assaulted by woman

Indian crowdfunding platform GoFundMe has raised close to $65,720 for Subhakar Khadka, An Uber driver of South-Asian origin who assaulted by a woman in San Francisco. The female passenger refused to wear a mask, verbally assaulted the driver of Nepali origin on March 6. 32-year-old Khadka said the assault was racially motivated.


In the now-viral video, the woman is seen coughing and saying ‘I've got corona.’ Khadka says the women were wearing masks when he picked them up from the San Francisco’s Bayview District. The women, who continued to berate and use profanities against him, even tried grabbing his phone and pepper-sprayed him, after Khadka asked them to leave his vehicle.


Khadka, who has been driving the cab to support his family in Nepal, was paid $120 by Uber to clean his vehicle. “The moment I opened my mouth to speak, they realised I’m not among one of them, so it’s easy for them to intimidate me,” Khadka told AFP. He also said that he has never said anything bad to them. “I wasn’t raised that way.” Khadka also said the women indicated that they wanted to shoot him.


The woman, identified as Arna Kimiai, has through her lawyer has said that she would turn herself in. Before that, however, she treated to sue Uber because Khadka kicked them out of his car. Her friend who pepper-sprayed Khadka was arrested. The San Francisco Police Department has been investigating the case. Both Uber and Lyft have suspended Kimiai from using their services.