Cicero woman files lawsuit against Uber and driver she accuses of sexual assault

A young woman attends a friend's birthday party.  She leaves in the early morning hours and orders an Uber. She lets her boyfriend know so he can track her route home to make sure nothing goes wrong. But then, the Uber app they share shows the driver suddenly makes an unusual turn and goes miles off course in the opposite direction of their home.

"I just know something's up. Something fishy is going on," her boyfriend said.

The alleged assault and confrontation

The woman's boyfriend spoke exclusively to CBS News Chicago Investigators on the condition that his face was not shown and his voice was disguised to protect his girlfriend and himself.

He said after the sudden route change, he immediately jumped in his car to find them while keeping an eye on where the driver was going.

"I was basically chasing after him, trying to, like, stop him," he said.

But by the time he said he caught up to the driver, the car was already stopped with the ignition turned off on a residential side street near Douglass Park in North Lawndale.

"He had stopped, I say, for 10 minutes," the boyfriend recalled.

By the time he caught up with the driver in the 1400 block of South Sawyer, he said he was getting really worried about his girlfriend.

"You don't know what's going on and you know it's something that's not right 'cause obviously he's doing something he's not supposed to," he said.

He said he was afraid for his girlfriend and increasingly for himself as he approached the driver's car. He had a phone in one hand, recording the encounter, and a gun in the other. The boyfriend is a licensed gun owner. 

Through a small crack in the window, he said he could see the driver in the back seat on top of his girlfriend.

"She was unconscious and he was taking advantage of her," he said. "Her dress was pulled up. She was blacked out."

He shouted at the driver, "What the f*** are you doing?" which can be heard on the recording of the confrontation. The driver responded, "Chill."

"He basically starts begging me not to shoot him and I threaten him to open the door," said the boyfriend. "He starts pleading with me not to call the cops, that I'm gonna ruin his life."

Eventually, the rideshare driver does open the door, pushes the woman out, jumps back in the driver's seat and takes off.

The boyfriend calls police.

The case

The police report shows Chicago officers arrived on scene at 3:53 a.m. after the boyfriend called for help.

But he said despite showing police the recorded confrontation and the Uber app with the driver's name, photo, vehicle description, license plate number and the track which showed the vehicle still moving, police didn't go after the man right away.

The girlfriend is now suing Uber; its subsidiary Raiser LLC which handles driver background checks, payments, insurance and local regulation compliance; and the rideshare driver, who the CBS News Chicago Investigators learned is 47-year-old Jaime Arroyo, 

"The driver didn't follow the Uber protocols, but Uber knew that the driver didn't," said attorney Karen Enright, who represents the woman, identified as Jane Doe in the civil lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims Uber failed to discover during a background check, or take action after finding out, that Arroyo had a previous criminal history. 

However, the company's background check policy appears not to disqualify a driver candidate for the type of conviction Arroyo had in his past. Cook County court records indicate Arroyo was convicted of a 1996 felony burglary and sentenced to 18 months' probation.

The lawsuit also claims Uber failed to catch that Arroyo went off course on April 18 and stopped for a long period of time. The suit accuses the rideshare company of not following through on its own safety protocols. That lack of supervision, the lawsuit claims, led to Jane Doe's sexual assault.

Enright says a program called Ride Check helps Uber keep tabs on drivers as a way to keep passengers safe.

"They're supposed to get in touch with the driver, find out why the driver stopped, find out why the driver pulled over in an area that wasn't where he was supposed to be, find out why the driver was traveling in the exact opposite direction of where he was supposed to be, of where the intended drop-off was," said Enright.

Enright credits the woman's boyfriend for taking action that night.

"I think he saved her life. And I don't know that the Uber driver would have stopped or even let the girl out had he not pulled out his gun and threatened him," she said.

Jane Doe was examined at a hospital shortly after the incident.

"The doctor found bruises and abrasions, consistent with an assault. The medical records do support that there was a sexual assault," Enright said. 

The investigation and repercussions

Enright also said the police investigation is letting her client down because it's moving too slowly, despite all the evidence detectives already have. Arroyo has not yet been arrested or charged with any crime.

"Not only do we have a witness who witnessed the sexual assault, who told the police what happened, he gave them evidence of a video. They have evidence of a 911 tape. They know about her bruising. In addition to the rape kit, they also have a physician that can testify as to what her state was when she came in and. And what her examination revealed," she said.

As of publication of this article, Enright said police have told Jane Doe they are still waiting on results of her rape kit taken at the hospital. By state law, the crime lab has 180 days to process it once they receive it. That would mean the results may not come back until sometime in October.

Chicago police did not respond to our requests for information on their investigation, other than to confirm it is active and ongoing.

CBS News Chicago Investigator Dave Savini found Arroyo at his Orland Park home, but Arroyo did not answer any questions related to the case.

Uber banned Arroyo from the platform when the incident was first reported in April, so he no longer drives for the rideshare company.

Uber faces more than 4,900 cases nationwide accusing drivers of sexual assault, part of a multidistrict litigation based in California. One case from Illinois was added recently, but this case is not part of the nationwide legal action.

Uber would not comment specifically on this current "ongoing litigation," involving Jane Doe and the boyfriend, but pointed to its many safety features added to the app over the years which are available to read about online. The company also noted in an email that "serious incidents on the Uber platform are incredibly rare – the vast majority of Uber Trips (99.9%) being completed without any type of reported safety incident at all."

That's little comfort to the boyfriend who says his girlfriend continues to feel anxious, scared and unsure of what's next.

"She was really traumatized. It affected her, I'd say mentally a lot," he said. "She doesn't even feel safe anymore. Even in our own house, where you're supposed to be the safest."