The driver remained calm throughout the 16-minute clip while he was the victim of racist insults and accused of being homophobic.
A Lyft passenger who told a driver he would make sure he never worked for the ride-sharing app again after he refused to play music, has been fired from his own job.
Video posted on YouTube October 2 from the incident, which featured a racist rant and accusations of homo-phobia from passenger Robert Ortiz, shows him hurling slurs at Shawn Pepas Lettman who captured what happened on his phone.
The 16-minute clip documents the moments after Lettman complained to Lyft about the group of three men who sat in the back of his car in New York and refused to leave his vehicle until law enforcement arrived.
Although Ortiz complained that he was scared, the clip shows him getting in and out of the car of his own will. He told the 911 operator that he refused to leave the vehicle and at the same time he preempted the calm situation would escalate.
Despite the driver remaining quiet and expressionless most of the time, Ortiz clearly made several attempts to get him to retaliate and perhaps compromise his professionalism.
‘I feel racially profiled … because I’m not Black,’ Ortiz says at one point. ‘If this guy does anything to threaten my life, I have to defend myself. … I’m a little fearful.’
The driver hardly moves throughout the exchange, only turning around at one point to request to speak.
After Ortiz reported he was being filmed against his will – but spoke directly to camera at points and moved closer for his face to be captured at various angles – Lettman asked if he could say one thing throughout the entire clip.
‘There’s a sign right there on the door that says you will be recorded,’ Lettman explained.
SOURCE: LEAH SIMPSON, DAILY MAIL
