Rideshare Incident: Uber Driver Canceled Trip, Drove Wrong Way in Chicago

Elyse Madrid, 22, filed a police report after an Uber driver canceled her ride and drove in the wrong direction on Saturday morning. The incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. as Madrid and a friend attempted to reach a late-night venue.

Madrid said the driver was supposed to take them to Stardust Karaoke Bar at 710 N. Clark Street. Instead, the vehicle headed toward Hubbard Street. She observed the driver press the red button on his console to cancel the trip while the car was still moving. The app displayed Hubbard Street as the drop-off location, but the two women eventually exited the vehicle on Randolph Street near the Kennedy Expressway.

"This guy tried to cancel our trip and take us somewhere else out of the way of where we were going. That's attempted kidnapping," Madrid said. She noted that the driver claimed his phone was acting weird or that his sister had canceled the ride. Madrid questioned the logic of the driver's sister canceling a trip for someone else. The driver continued to insist his phone was malfunctioning and offered to continue the trip after Madrid demanded he pull over.

Madrid described the driver's departure as panicked. "He sped off at like 40-50 miles per hour .. when he turned a corner, I saw a police cruiser go after him," she said. She identified the sudden acceleration and the subsequent police pursuit as the third major warning sign during the ride.

Madrid said she had previously been assaulted in a cab in August. She explained that she did not use Uber's Woman Drivers option because she was with a friend. She also noted that activating the SOS feature might have delayed her exit from the vehicle. The driver's account on the platform appears to have been deactivated following the incident.

Uber provided a link for Madrid to submit her police report. A company spokesperson said in a statement, "What has been reported is deeply distressing. We have removed the driver's access to the Uber platform and are continuing to look into this. We've reached out to police, and will support their investigation in any way we can."

Madrid hopes the report will raise awareness about potential safety risks for riders. The police are currently reviewing the incident, and the driver is no longer active on the app.