WASHINGTON — An Uber driver is charged with misdemeanor sexual battery after an alleged assault in Prince William County last month.
Mengistu Asfaw — a 58-year-old of Annandale — is accused of groping a woman’s bosom over her clothes after dropping her off at her home on York Drive in Woodbridge, Virginia.
The alleged 24-year-old victim tells police it happened early Sunday, July 12 after she used the Uber app to get a ride home from Clarendon.
The driver was a partner on D.C.’s uberX platform, and his account was immediately deactivated upon learning of the arrest, said Uber Spokesman Taylor Bennett in an email.
“The driver partner’s access to the Uber platform has been permanently removed, and we continue to investigate the incident. We have reached out to the rider to offer our support and stand ready to assist the authorities,” Bennett said in an email to WTOP.
Prince William County police investigators say information from the woman’s Uber app assisted their search for Asfaw.
In a separate case that may involve an Uber driver, Arlington County Police still are looking for a man accused of sexual assault in Arlington about 4 a.m. last Sunday.
The 29-year-old woman says she was attacked after her ride from D.C. to Alcova Heights when she couldn’t pay cash.
It happened in the 900 block of South Randolph Street which is near the intersection of Columbia Pike and South George Mason Drive.
