Josie_Desmarais/iStock(ENCINO, Calif.) — An Uber passenger who got into a physical altercation with another rider was struck and killed by a California highway patrol car after jumping from the Uber and running across a highway.
Authorities received a call around 3:30 a.m. on Monday morning regarding an Uber in distress that had pulled over to the side of the 101 Freeway in Encino, Calif.
The Uber driver, who identified himself only as Randy, described the chaotic scene that took place in his car to ABC News’ Los Angeles station KABC.
“One was in the front seat, one was in the back seat. So the guy in the back seat started escalating by starting, like, choking him. They started like, punching each other. And then I had to stop because of that … it was crazy,” said the driver who identified himself only as Randy.
“I had to stop because it was distracting my driving,” Randy continued.
Officers arrived on scene shortly after receiving the call and conducted a traffic break on the westbound side of the freeway, according to KABC.
Then, according to the driver, one of the men jumped out of the car and started running across the lanes of traffic.
It was then that a police car driving down the other side of the highway to respond to the Uber’s distress call struck and killed the man as he ran across the freeway.
“One of the Uber passengers jumped the concrete center divider wall … and collided with a patrol vehicle, so the pedestrian was basically running across traffic lanes. The patrol vehicle collided with that passenger,” said California Highway Police Officer Weston Haver.
The Uber driver said he picked up the two men in West Hollywood and that they did not seem drunk at the time of the argument.
Pictures from the scene of the accident show a heavily damaged patrol car but authorities report that the officer driving the vehicle was uninjured in the accident.
The man who was killed has yet to be indentified but has been described by authorities as a male adult in his 30s. All eastbound lanes on the 101 Freeway were shut down for around 7 hours while authorities conducted their investigation causing major traffic jams and major delays for many motorists.
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