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SALT LAKE CITY — James Brothers said he loves driving people around Salt Lake City using the ride share app Uber, but after a passenger held a gun to his head early Monday, he's rethinking the job.
"I've never had a bad situation," Brothers said. "Crazy and funny things have happened during these rides, but never to this point."
He began driving for Uber in April as a way to get extra cash, but the ride share turned into his only source of income after he lost his job. Now he's concerned about picking up passengers late at night, the best time to get cash.
Regulation over Uber and Lyft, a similar app-based ride share program, have been hotly debated in Salt Lake City.
Brothers had picked up a group from a local bar, and after dropping two men and a woman off at a party, was was giving 44-year-old Byron Keith McDonald, a Texas resident, a ride to the downtown Hilton hotel when he began to worry something was wrong.
McDonald's speech was slurred, he seemed paranoid, and he was asking some alarming questions, Brothers said.
"He asked, 'Do you want to live or die?' So I said, 'Well, I want to live, of course,'" Brothers recalled.
Thoughts are going through my head as to what I need to do, and I just thought, 'I'm going to bail because I'm not going to sit around and wait for what's going to happen.
–James Brothers, Uber driver
As they arrived at the hotel, McDonald started asking Brothers about a supposed 3-year-old daughter and girlfriend, neither of which he has, and again asked if he wanted to live, Brothers said.
That's when McDonald pulled out a gun and put it to Brothers' head, then moved it back under his arm so it was pointed at Brothers' side, according to Brothers.
"Thoughts are going through my head as to what I need to do, and I just thought, 'I'm going to bail because I'm not going to sit around and wait for what's going to happen,'" Brothers said.
Brothers took his phone from the dashboard and removed the keys from the ignition, then opened the door and jumped.
But McDonald grabbed Brothers' shirt, attempting to pull him back in to the car and scratching at Brothers' neck, but Brothers tore free and ran, calling 911 as he went, he said.
Officers arrived and took McDonald into custody without further incident. He was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of aggravated assault.
For now, Brothers is only picking up passengers during the day. The encounter, he said, could have easily taken a deadly turn.
"It makes you realize it can happen to anybody," said Brothers, who had often thought about what he would do if he were held up in his car. "I just went by instinct. I leapt as quickly as I could."
