Uber driver who killed driver said she thought she was kidnapped

Daniel Piedra Garcia had been an Uber driver for three weeks when he picked up a rider heading to the Speaking Rock Casino in El Paso on June 16. It was near the end of his workday, but Mr. Piedra had picked up the rider anyway, his family said.

As they passed a sign for Juarez, Mexico, a nearby city across the border, the passenger became nervous about where they were going, she told authorities. According to court documents, she said she feared she would be kidnapped and taken to Mexico.

That’s when the passenger, Phoebe Capos, 48, took a brown-and-silver revolver from her bag and shot Mr Piedra, 52, in the head, authorities said. The car crashed into a roadblock before coming to rest on U.S. Route 54.

Ms. Copas was originally charged with aggravated assault, but that was upgraded to murder after Mr. Piedra died in a hospital on June 21.

A judge set bail for Ms. Copas at $1.5 million. Her lawyer, Matthew James Kozik, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to an affidavit prepared by an El Paso Police Department detective, Ms. Copas was visiting from Kentucky and on her way to see her boyfriend at the Speaking Rock Casino, where he worked. The route Mr. Piedra drove was “a normal route to drive” to the requested destination, according to the court document, and the location where Ms. Copas shot Mr. Piedra was not near “a bridge, port of entry, or other area with direct access to travel to Mexico.”

Ms. Copas did not call police to report she was in immediate danger before shooting Mr. Piedra, the affidavit said. After shooting him, it noted, she took a picture of Mr. Piedra and texted it to her boyfriend before calling 911.

When officers arrived at the scene, according to the court document, Ms. Copas was helped out of the car by her boyfriend and “dropped everything she had in her hands on the floor,” including a brown-and-silver handgun.

In a statement, Uber said it was “appalled” by the actions of Ms. Copas “who have claimed the life of Mr. Piedra”.

“We have been in touch with his family and our thoughts are with his loved ones at this incredibly difficult time,” the company said. “We suspended the rider as soon as we were aware of what happened and were in contact with the police.”

Mr. Piedra started driving for Uber as a second job in recent weeks to make ends meet for his family, which includes his wife, Ana Piedra, and their nephew Luis Barragán, 16, whom they had raised since he was 3 months old.

In April, Mr. Piedra had knee surgery after a metal rack fell on him while he was working as a diesel mechanic, his family said. But he lost pay after the injury, Ms. Piedra said, and decided to pick up some extra work that he could do sitting down.

On June 16, Mr. Piedra started the day by making coffee for his wife. He asked her to make him a burrito because he was going away for the day, she said. Then he left because he had an Uber pickup.

“He left home happy,” Ms Piedra said in an interview Monday. “He hasn’t come back.”

When Mr. Piedra did not return that afternoon, Ms. Piedra said she called and texted him several times to no avail.

Didi Lopez, a cousin of Mr. Piedra, said relatives began calling hospitals in the area. When a local news report circulated about a shooting of an unknown Uber driver, they called the police.

Mrs. Lopez remembered Mr. Piedra as someone who was always looking to make others laugh. She last saw him about a month ago at her sister’s graduation party. Some family members sat on the edge of the pool instead of swimming, so he decided to splash them, Ms. Lopez said.

“Even when he was annoying other people,” Ms. Lopez said, “the whole point was that he made you laugh.”

Driver advocacy groups and members of Congress have been pressuring giants to improve safety measures to protect their drivers.

It’s rare for an Uber driver to get injured on the job, but it does happen. Last year, Uber’s safety report said a total of 19 drivers were killed in 2019 and 2020 — 14 in accidents and five in assault.

But a recent report by Gig Workers Rising, an advocacy group, indicated those numbers are rising and estimated that by 2022, 31 driving or delivery app-based workers — including Lyft and DoorDash — will have been killed on the job.

Jesus Jimenez reporting contributed.