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USC Student Says She Was Raped By An Uber Driver
A USC student says she was raped by an Uber driver after using the service to get home from an off-campus party.The alleged sexual assault occurred around 1 a.m. on Saturday, April 25 on the 2600 block of Ellendale Place after the student was picked up from downtown Los Angeles. According to a campus safety alert (.pdf), the student drank alcohol at the party and did not remember anything after getting picked up by the driver. She later contacted the driver who told her they had sex, even though the student said she did not recall giving consent.
Although the campus safety alert did not name the car service the student took, LA Weekly reports that it was Uber. A spokesman for the ridesharing company told the Weekly, "As soon as we learned of this situation we started an investigation and reached out to law enforcement to offer our help."
NBC 4 says that Uber has suspended the driver, and that both parties are being questioned by police. A spokesman for the LAPD said the alleged assault "did not occur on campus and did not occur in a car."