One Passenger Arrested In Anti-Masker Uber Driver Assault, Another Agrees To Turn Herself In

It’s hard to believe that after a full year and more than 500,000 Americans dead that there are still people out there refusing to wear a mask, and yet…

As we previously reported, a shocking video of a young woman assaulting an Uber driver recently went viral. The incident would have been upsetting regardless, but it occurred because the driver refused to continue the ride when a passenger refused to wear her mask. One of the passengers, Arna Kimiai, then aggressively coughed, claiming she had coronavirus, and proceeded to assault the driver. When Kimiai and her fellow passengers finally got out of the car, one of the other women, Malaysia King, reached back in and pepper sprayed in the direction of the driver.

You can see video of the upsetting incident below:

CAUGHT ON VIDEO: A woman coughs on & snatches the mask off an @Uber driver in San Francisco. At one point, one of them wasn’t wearing her mask, and he ended the ride, per @SFPD. They accused him of abandoning them. 4,5,6:10, 7:30 p.m. @KTVU pic.twitter.com/DJSows3bqX

— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) March 9, 2021

On Thursday, King was arrested in Las Vegas on charges of assault with a caustic chemical, assault and battery, conspiracy, and violation of a health and safety code, per the local FOX news outlet. Meanwhile, Kimiai has apparently communicated through her legal counsel to police in San Francisco (where the incident occurred) that she intends to turn herself in.

According to KTVU Fox 2, Lt. Tracy McCray, head of SFPD’s Robbery Detail unit, stated:

“We’re glad to hear that Ms. Kimiai intends to do the right thing and turn herself in to the nearest law enforcement agency, and we hope it happens promptly. The behavior captured on video in this incident showed a callous disregard for the safety and wellbeing of an essential service worker in the midst of a deadly pandemic.”

A lawyer for Kimiai told KTVU reporter Henry K. Lee:

“Nobody should be judged by their worst moment. More to the story will be revealed.”

Yeah, the 24-year-old has done plenty of the revealing herself, going live on Instagram to talk about the incident. (BTW, she seems to be enjoying cocktails in Vegas before turning herself in, according to her IG Story.) Kimiai told her followers:

“All I did was smack, take his mask off and cough a little bit, but I ain’t even have corona. OK yeah I ain’t gonna lie, that was disrespectful as f**k. I’m dead a** wrong for that. But it could have been avoided, period point blank. It could have been avoided, you could’ve just waited and made sure we was safe.”

California anti-masker who coughed on a driver says she plans to sue Uber pic.twitter.com/IjlGs0wnRg

— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) March 9, 2021

We doubt that admission of guilt will help her case when she tries to “sue Uber.” And to think this all could have been avoided if she just wore her damn mask… we hope this serves as a lesson to other anti-maskers out there!

[Image via Arna Kimiai/Instagram & Uber]