American students are detained in Denmark after conflict with Uber

Two American college students were arrested for two weeks in Denmark after an alleged fight with a Uber driver, local police said on Tuesday (15).

Authorities said young people are prevented from leaving the country to a judicial hearing on charges of aggression in Copenhaguen, the country’s capital, scheduled for April 24.

The case happened around 2 am on March 31, local time after Owen Ray and a friend returned from a night out at the end of spring holidays in Europe.

Erin Pelton, family voice gate, told the CNN That Ray and his not identified friend asked a Uber to return to the hotel but realized they had selected their wrong destination. Unable to update the location in the Uber app, they canceled the trip.

The canceled fare was automatically paid by the application, continued Pelton. However, the driver did not believe he had received the payment, and began allegedly to threaten the students.

Speaking to ABC’s “Good Morning America” ​​program, Ray said the driver got out of the car and started shouting that he had not received the payment, threatening “calling 10 guys.” Ray added, “We didn’t do anything wrong, we were victims of an attack.”

The case was registered by the driver’s panel camera, which is now part of the court case, Pelton said.

The same night, Ray and his friend prepared to take a flight back to the United States. However, still on March 31, police informed the CNN that they were arrested at the airport while trying to leave the country and taken to a court on the same day, facing accusations of common aggression.

Students were kept in pre -trial detention for 10 days in a Danish Penitentiary. “We were two in a very small cell, sleeping in bunk beds. We spent 23 hours a day at the cell. We had an hour a day of time in the courtyard and we could make a call a week,” Ray reported.

On Monday (14), young people were released without accusations. Their passports have been confiscated and now they are required to report to the Danish police daily until the judicial hearing on April 24.

Naturally from Chicago, Ray is a student at the University of Miami in Ohio. He hopes to be able to return home in May. “I will try to maintain a positive attitude and hope they can solve the case,” Ray told ABC.

His parents, Andy Ray and Sara Buchen-Ray, believe that the alleged aggression was not caused, and claim that the two young people “suffered in the hands of a Uber driver.”

In an interview with WBBM, affiliated with CNN Sara remembered having received a message from a foreign number on March 31, which said, “Mom, I’m stuck in Copenhaguen.”

In a statement, Owen’s parents expressed concern about how the case was conducted, saying authorities need to send them to the United States as soon as possible:

“We are still deeply concerned that the Danish authorities have confiscated their passport and not allow him to return to the United States, something we understand uncommon in Danish lawsuits. We are relieved that Owen was released from prison after the unlocked assault on the hands of a Uber driver,” they said.

“The facts make it clear that Owen is the victim in this case, and we ask the Danish authorities to allow him to return home in the United States without delay,” they added.

The Danish lawyer of young people, Eigil Strand, called the case “misunderstanding”:

“Owen Ray and his friend were in Copenhaguen simply for fun,” Strand told CNN . “Both were very shocked by prison, especially because they were about to board a plane back home,” he continued.

He added that the situation seems to have gotten worse when the driver was wrong about how it would be offset by the canceled trip and later denounced the students to the police.

Uber informed CNN That the driver said the two students started fighting in the back seat of the car and later assaulted him after the trip. The driver then called the authorities.

A company spokesman has published in a statement that “the security of all who use the Uber app is our main priority and we take reports of violence very seriously.”

The company confirmed that the trip was paid and said it is cooperating with the Danish authorities in the investigation in progress.

US Embassy employees in Copenhaguen are providing consular assistance to both students, according to the country’s state department. “The department has no greater priority than the security of US citizens abroad,” a spokesman told CNN .

This content was originally published in American students are detained in Denmark after conflict with Uber on CNN Brazil.

Source: CNN Brasil