NORTH MIAMI, FLA. (WSVN) - An Uber ride to the gym took a terrifying turn for a South Florida teen after, she said, she was caught in a possible kidnapping attempt and ended up miles away from her home.
The teen and her sister shared the rideshare scare with 7News on Sunday.
“Once we got to the highway, I started freaking out,” said the 16-year-old girl.
She asked 7News not to show her face or use her name.
That’s because she believes her driver attempted to abduct her during a Friday ride.
“We started going the wrong way, and I started to realize, and when I said anything in the Uber, he wouldn’t answer me,” she said.
The 16-year-old says she was trying to get a ride to US 1 Fitness in North Miami.
Instead, she said she ended up on a drive-through in Hialeah.
“My doors were on child lock, so I couldn’t open them,” she said.
The Uber driver eventually brought her \to the Miami Princess Hotel, just a few blocks away from Miami International Airport.
“I saw another man with money in his hand, and he came close to the car, and then the driver got out, and he opened the door for me and asked me to go with him,” she said.
Hotel surveillance cameras captured the Uber ride pulling up to the hotel.
The driver opens the passenger door and he and the 16-year-old make their way to the front desk.
The driver is heard saying over the surveillance video that the GPS mistakenly brought them to the hotel and to explain that to the 16-year-old.
He goes on to say there has been a language barrier between the two.
At this time, the victim’s family was already on their way after tracking her location on her cell phone.
“When I heard that my little sister was in danger I was terrified,” the teen’s older sister said.
The victim’s sister believed the driver had every intention of trying to abduct the 16-year-old.
A statement to 7News from Uber read in part, “What’s been reported is deeply alarming. The driver’s access to the app has been removed and we are looking into the matter.”
The sisters have filed a police report. North Miami Police is investigating.
An Uber spokesperson said the driver has no other reports of this nature.
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