Uber Driver ‘Brutally’ Headbutts, Knocks Out Passenger Cold

“The next thing I know, I’m waking up in a hospital bed with seven staples in my head and four stitches,” Bryan Kobel said of the “brutal experience”

Uber is at the center of a lawsuit after a passenger was allegedly assaulted by one of the company’s drivers after his request to bring his service dog on a ride was denied.

Uber is at the center of a lawsuit after a passenger was allegedly assaulted by one of the company’s drivers after his request to bring his service dog on a ride was denied.

The lawsuit alleges that Uber hired Russian national Vadim Nikolaevich Uliumdzhiev, with him using a fake driver’s license to secure the role.

The suit goes on to accuse Uliumdzhiev of brutally assaulting Kobel during an April 24 altercation after the CEO was allegedly denied a ride when he asked to travel with his service dog. Per reporting in Post and Currier, Uliumdzhiev has already been charged with second-degree assault and battery, and is currently being held in a processing facility for the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Georgia.

The driver later told the Charleston Police Department that he was allergic to dogs, which is why he had denied Kobel’s request to travel with his dog, according to Post and Currier.

Kobel reportedly told Uliumdzhiev that his dog was a registered service animal and asked Uliumdzhiev to cancel the ride, per FOX.

Uliumdzhiev is then accused of grabbing Kobel by the throat, headbutting him, and punching him in the jaw. Kobel fell to the ground, hitting his head in the process. The alleged incident was captured on camera via a surveillance camera from a business on the street.

The CEO was reportedly rendered unconscious by the attack and suffered a “severe concussion,” according to FOX.

“The next thing I know, I’m waking up in a hospital bed with seven staples in my head and four stitches,” he told the New York Post in an interview. “It’s been a brutal experience.”

He told the Post that it took “about 60 days” to “have some semblance of a normal life” due to the injuries he sustained.

“I had to bring our employees into a Zoom call and inform them of what had happened,” he said, adding, “I couldn’t look at screens. I couldn’t really focus my eyes.”

Kobel also said that he suffered “a complete loss of vocabulary.”

“You wonder, will I ever be whole again? Am I ever going to be the person I was? It’s made me more jaded, for sure,” he added to the outlet.