A racist passenger who punched a Melbourne Uber driver in the face is being investigated by police.
According to Herald Sun, police are investigating a racist passenger who assaulted an Uber driver in Melbourne.
Uber driver Max Lin, 27, was racially assaulted and punched in the face by a passenger on Saturday in the Australian city.
In a video recorded by Lin, the passenger is heard saying, “you are Asian right?” and “You are an Asian loser.”
“You can’t even speak f—— English, your parents probably came here on a Visa,” the racist passenger says. “Go back to where the f— you came from.”
Lin added that the man punched him in the face and stole his phone but later returned it after he realised he was not the designated passenger.
“He began swearing at me and telling me to go back to where I came from,” said Lin. “When he realised I was filming, he punched me in the face and took my phone but I had already called police and then they arrived.”
Lin reported the incident to the police.
“I know this happens but I never thought this would happen to me,” Lin said.“I feel unsafe, before this I felt these stories were far away from me and now I feel like it could happen every trip. This is the first time I have called the police for help and I was so disappointed.”
A police spokeswoman said the passenger only got out of the car upon the police’s request.
“Police later received a report yesterday (August 19) that the driver, a 27-year-old man from Clayton, was assaulted by the passenger during the incident and are investigating,” the police added.
Dr Dvir Abramobich, president of the Anti-Defamation Commission described the attack as “abhorrent”.
“I am outraged by this bias-motivated violence and decry this abhorrent outburst of prejudice toward the driver,” he said. “Such incidents not only harm and traumatise the individual victims, but also deeply affect the entire community.”
“Australians of all faiths, nationalities, and ethnicities should feel secure on our streets without the fear of being singled out for attack because of their religion, appearance, or background.”
“We all have a stake in ensuring that such ugly intolerance never finds a home in Australia, and this episode is a sad and distressing reminder that hate remains a force in our community and that it must be fought.”
Uber is also looking into the incident.
“This type of behaviour is not tolerated on the Uber app and is unacceptable anywhere,” said an Uber spokeswoman. “We have spoken to the driver-partner to check on his wellbeing and will continue to look further into this report.”
