Uber Sued After Woman Stabbed In Face

CHICAGO, IL — A woman who was slashed in the face without warning in the back of an Uber filed a lawsuit against the ride-hailing service in Cook County Circuit Court Tuesday.

Jennifer Camacho, 25, said she was out with friends on the North Side on Jan. 30 when she hailed an UberPOOL vehicle in the 3300 block of North Halsted Street.

Julie Ramer, 34, another passenger in the vehicle, pulled out a knife and cut Camacho repeatedly across her face, witnesses told police. Ramer was sitting in the front seat at the time. She told police she didn't remember how the altercation began but Camacho began hitting her in the head, according the Chicago police incident report.

Police inventoried the three-inch blade Ramer allegedly used to stab Camacho above her right eye and on her upper left cheek, the report said. Camacho was taken to Illinois Masonic by a fire department ambulance and treated for minor lacerations.

The knife attack was completely unprovoked and without warning, according to Camacho's suit, which also includes a civil claim against Ramer for assault and battery. The stabbing caused permanent mental and physical scarring, the suit said.

The UberPOOL service offers discounted fares for sharing rides with other passengers. The lawsuit accuses Uber of negligence for allowing strangers to be unprotected in its vehicles.

The San Francisco-based company "failed to have any policy or procedure in place" to deal with violent incidents between passengers, "negligently failed to teach" drivers how to protect passengers and failed to "exercise ordinary care and caution" for its customers' safety, according to the suit.

An Uber spokesperson said the lawsuit involved "an altercation between two riders that didn't involve Uber." The spokesperson declined to offer any further comment or answer questions about whether it offers any training or has any specific policy to handle altercations in its "partner" vehicles and instead pointed to the company's general "community guidelines".

Ramer faces one misdemeanor count of battery causing bodily harm and was released on bail, according to police.

Uber's insurance company refused to cover the claims, Camacho's lawyer told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Top photo Julie Ramer (CPD)