Police are investigating after a 12-year-old was allegedly taken miles away from his destination during a teen Uber ride before being dropped off.
An Indianapolis mother says her 12-year-old son will never use Uber again after she claims a driver canceled his ride to school and instead took him across town.
Geralyn Alexander said her son was supposed to be dropped off Wednesday at a middle school in Indianapolis. Instead, she said, the ride was canceled mid-trip and her son ended up miles away on the opposite side of the city.
Alexander said the chain of events began when her son’s school bus did not arrive. She then used Uber’s teen ride option to get him to school.
At first, she said everything appeared normal. But about 11 minutes into the ride, she received a notification that the trip had been canceled. Alexander said she immediately checked her son’s location using Apple’s AirTag tracking technology and realized he was not near the school.
“I saw that he was nowhere near his school,” she said.
She said the school is only a few miles from their home, but her son was roughly 10 miles away and traveling in the wrong direction.
Alexander said she Facetimed her son while he was still in the vehicle and asked what was happening. According to her, the driver said the school was not the address listed in the app.
She also said the driver did not match the profile photo shown in the app. Alexander said there appeared to be a language barrier and that the driver did not respond when her son repeatedly asked where he was being taken.
Alexander said she called 911, and shortly after, the driver let her son out of the car and left.
“I’ve been crying since Wednesday, because I felt like I could not protect my child,” she said.
Local police confirmed they are investigating the incident.
Uber said in a statement to 13News it is “alarmed by what’s been described.”
“We can’t imagine how terrifying this experience must have been and are continuing to look into this report,” an Uber spokesperson said. “We stand ready to assist law enforcement with its investigation.”
Alexander said she wants the driver held accountable.
“I’m going to do everything that I can to make sure whoever did this is held accountable,” she said.
According to Uber policy, riders using teen accounts must be at least 13 years old.