• jordanlund@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    What a dumbass… and as bad as this is… it gets WORSE:

    https://www.wesh.com/article/milton-florida-dad-gun-uber/60744321

    “That vehicle was completely unmarked. In my mind, this was not good, right?" Dr. Sean Hollonbeck told WEAR News.

    I can’t say I’ve seen an unmarked Uber or Lyft car, generally they’re very good about displaying one or both signs, so doubting this statement from the jump.

    “I served 31 years, I was an Army doctor, I trained as a Navy flight surgeon, I served with the 7th Special Forces Group, I served with the 160th," Hollonbeck said. "I served six tours.”

    Then you should know better.

    https://weartv.com/news/local/milton-dad-accomplished-veteran-tells-his-side-in-uber-driver-gun-case-involving-daughter

    "And everybody knows what’s going on in this country with fentanyl and child trafficking and rape. Terrible stuff.”

    If they were engaging in child trafficking, why would they be bringing her BACK to your house? 🤔

    “In this country you’re innocent until proven guilty,"

    You mean, like the Uber driver?

    • lorty@lemmy.ml
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      8 months ago

      I didn’t even know marked ubers were an expectation. Here you’d be hard pressed to find a marked one.

      • LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I just went to Vegas and probably took 30 ubers while there. Almost none had signs. One had a police license plate though lol

        I think there’s a lot more to this guy’s relationship with his daughter. She had other friends at the house and hadn’t told him she’d left. She also went inside and left during this confrontation. Sounds like a very strained relationship for many reasons - eg I wonder how many times he’s threatened her with a gun etc

    • rhandyrhoads@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Massive disclaimer before this whole paragraph that this person’s actions are abhorrent and totally unjustified. Just want to provide some perspective on a single relatively minor point.

      Regarding the unmarked uber it’s actually more common than you’d think. In some cities uber will send you a little decal you’re meant to put in the windshield of your car, but it could easily be missed and some drivers who maybe only drive a couple times a month may choose to not have that on display everywhere they go. Uber actually states that you’re only supposed to have it installed while you’re active in the app, but I don’t think it would last very long if you peeled it off and stored it in your car or on a shelf every time you needed to go to the grocery store let alone if you drive for personal reasons on a daily basis. Personally when I was driving uber with that decal provided I chose to just keep it on my windshield, but there’s no enforcement of that policy unless people scanned all your windows before getting in and decided that your license plate matching the app wasn’t enough evidence to get in your car.

      In the previous city I drove uber (albeit it was only around 80k population) they didn’t provide any sort of markings. Plenty of uber drivers had signs, but those light up signs in particular are actually sold by third parties and as a result you need to pay out of pocket to get one. While I did choose to invest in a phone mount which is about the same price, I refused on principle to use my own money to buy signage.

      So in short I can assure you that there are plenty of uber drivers in unmarked cars, either due to signage which doesn’t meet drivers’ needs or a lack of any signage provided by uber.

      • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        For the sticker thing, we had this solution waaaaaaay back in the day when I was in college…

        Parking sticker had to be displayed, but if you didn’t want to permanently mount it to one car, you did this:

        Take the lid off a casette tape case, put the sticker on that, put the lid on the dashboard. Take it with you when you don’t need it.

        I guess nowadays you’d use the lid off a CD case. :)

    • bradorsomething@ttrpg.network
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      8 months ago

      The more he describes himself, the more cocaine I think fueled his actions. That’s like 4 lines of self aggrandizement there, maybe a bump after.

      • bitchkat@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I always joked that I wasn’t worried about my son being kidnapped because the kidnappers would send him back within a day.

    • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Someone who did this is a medical doctor. I mean he lives in Florida but still, you would think he’d at least ask first.