A young woman from North Carolina says an Uber driver refused to take her and her friend home unless they put their purses in the trunk — a request she believes was racially motivated.
Lakeya Foushee, 24, had just finished an eight-hour shift at Wingstop early Sunday morning. She and her friend booked an Uber to get home, but the ride didn’t go as planned.
Foushee says the driver suddenly demanded that they put their purses in the trunk, something she found strange and unsafe.
“He raised his voice and got very aggressive,” Foushee told Atlanta Black Star in a phone interview.
When she asked if he made all his riders put their purses in the trunk, the driver didn’t answer. Instead, he threatened to cancel the ride if they didn’t comply.
Video Captures Driver’s Change in Behavior
Feeling uncomfortable, Foushee pulled out her phone and started recording. The driver’s behavior changed instantly. He lowered his voice and stopped yelling, clearly aware he was being filmed.
“He knew he was wrong. That’s why he changed his tone once I started recording,” Foushee said.
Later, she posted the video on TikTok, where it quickly went viral, getting more than 74,000 views and hundreds of comments. In the video, the women can be seen holding drinks and paper bags from Wingstop, which Foushee said contained bones for their dogs.
The driver shifted focus to the drinks, asking them to put them in the cup holder — which they did — but Foushee says the real issue was him insisting they put their purses in the trunk.
“This is my purse with my ID, money, and inhaler inside. I wasn’t comfortable putting it in the trunk,” she explained.
Locked Inside and Pressured Not to Leave a Bad Review
Despite the argument, the driver eventually drove them home without making them put their purses away. But once they arrived, Foushee said he locked the car doors, refusing to let them out unless they promised not to leave a bad review.
“He said, ‘Before you get out, you need to tell me if you’re going to leave a bad review because if you do, I’ll leave a bad review on you,’” Foushee recalled.
Although she had planned to report the experience through the Uber app, she didn’t get a chance to. Instead, after TikTok users began tagging Uber in the comments, the company refunded her for the ride.
Exhausted and Just Wanting to Get Home
Foushee said the situation was especially frustrating because she was exhausted after working two jobs. That Saturday, she had worked from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at one job, then from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Wingstop.
By the time the Uber arrived, they had been waiting 45 minutes, and Foushee only had a few hours to sleep before needing to wake up at 7 a.m. for her second job on Easter Sunday.
“My feet hurt, I was tired — I just wanted to go home,” she said.
She and her friend refused to exit the Uber when the driver ordered them to, fearing for their safety. It was late at night, they were in an unsafe area, and their phone batteries were low.
Foushee said she suggested calling the police, not to get the driver arrested, but to have someone keep them safe while they waited for another ride.
After several minutes of back-and-forth, the driver finally agreed to drive them home.
Uber’s Response
Foushee said she doesn’t know if the driver was fired, but she can no longer view his profile on the Uber app.
“I guess that was their resolution,” she said. “Nobody from Uber actually called us back to explain anything.”
Uber did not respond to questions from Atlanta Black Star about the situation.
Many people commented on her TikTok post, expressing shock at the driver’s behavior. One person wrote, “Lived in NYC 18 years of my life so far and ain’t NEVER heard no cab driver tell a lady to put her purse in the trunk. Lmao, tf kinda scam he tryina pull?”