Page 24 - Florida Sentinel 12-13-19

National
Uber Reports More Than 3,000 Sexual Assaults In U.S. Rides Last Year
Subway Manager Fired For Allegedly Turning Down Black Teen, Saying She Didn’t Want ‘Those People’ In Her Store
A Texas Subway manager was fired after an apparent racist text message exchange about job applicant, Katelyn Simmons, a high school stu- dent who applied for work at the chain over the weekend.
The manager of a Texas Subway allegedly denied a black teenager a position at the sandwich chain based on her race, writing that she didn’t want “those people” in the store.
Klein High School Student Katelyn Simmons applied for work at the restaurant over the weekend with the hopes of saving up money before her senior year, Click2Houston re- ported. One of her friends al- ready worked at the Subway on Champion Forest Drive and, after a bit of encouragement, the soon-to-be senior agreed the job seemed a natural fit for her as well.
“I thought it would be fun and chill, and it’s really dis- couraging for it to go down like that just because of the color of
SUBWAY AND KATELYN SIMMONS
SAN FRANCISCO — More than 3,000 sexual assaults were reported during U.S. Uber rides in 2018, the com- pany said in a long-awaited safety report.
That figure includes 229 rapes across the company’s 1.3 billion rides. Uber noted that drivers and riders were both attacked, and that some as- saults occurred between rid- ers.
In 2017, the company said 2,936 sexual assaults were re- ported. Uber bases its num- bers on reports from riders and drivers — meaning the ac- tual numbers could be much higher. Sexual assaults com- monly go unreported.
“I suspect many people will be surprised at how rare these incidents are; others will un- derstandably think they’re still too common,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi tweeted about the report. “Some people will appreciate how much we’ve done on safety; others will say we have more work to do. They will all be right.”
Uber’s share price dropped more than 1% in after-hours trading.
Uber and competitor Lyft have faced a backlash for not
UBER
doing enough to protect the safety of its riders and drivers. Dozens of women are suing Lyft, claiming the company should have done more to pro- tect them from driver assaults. A Connecticut woman sued Uber last month, claiming she was sexually assaulted by her driver.
Uber’s safety report is the first of its kind, the company said.
“Keeping this information in the dark doesn’t make any- one safer,” Uber said in a statement announcing the re- port. It plans to release its safety report every two years going forward.
Lyft said last year it would also release a safety report. A company spokeswoman con- firmed Thursday that it “re- mained committed” to releasing a report, but did not say when.
my skin,” she told the news station.
Simmons filled out her application on Sunday and dropped it off later the same that afternoon, prompting her friend to reach out to the store manager on her behalf.
The manager responded with questions about Sim- mons’ appearance.
“Black girl long dark hair,” she wrote, before adding “Shortish.”
“Oh no thanks. I don’t want
those people in our store lol,” the manager allegedly wrote back.
Simmons was left frus- trated by the Subway man- ager’s racism in the face of her efforts “to better my future.”
“My mom has always been dedicated and driven and that’s how I was taught,” the 17-year-old added. “When I see an issue that is vulgar and very important, it needs to be pushed and needs to be shown, like, this is unacceptable.”
Atlanta Is One Of The Most ‘Sinful’ Cities In U.S.
CHICAGO — A female Chicago police officer who was reportedly seen on video drinking with and kissing the now-fired police superin- tendent the night he was found asleep behind the wheel of his SUV has been ac- cused of tampering with a cellphone investigators wanted to examine, a police department spokesman said Friday.
Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said officials noticed that the phone was damaged when the woman left then-Superin- tendent Eddie Johnson’s security detail to join the evi- dence and recovered prop- erty unit, three days after the incident.
According to the Chicago Tribune, which first reported the allegations about the phone, a sergeant in the unit that the officer was joining noticed that the SIM card was missing and filed a formal complaint against the officer. The Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, citing sources the papers didn’t identify, said video shows Johnson with a woman who is not his wife
SUPERINTENDENT EDDIE JOHNSON
the night of Oct. 16 at a popu- lar bar and restaurant in the Chicago Board of Trade Building.
Guglielmi declined to discuss why the woman was transferred but said turning over phones and other equip- ment is routine when officers move from one unit to an- other. He said the phone had been “noticeably damaged and the SIM card was miss- ing or damaged.”
He said the inspector general’s office became aware of the problems with the phone when it contacted the police department to ask for it as part of its investigation. He also said that as of Friday,
the office has not requested that any member of the de- partment be disciplined.
Guglielmi said the woman, who is on medical leave for injuries unrelated to the incident, is at the center of the investigation of the in- cident that prompted Mayor Lori Lightfoot to fire Johnson on Monday. She said that after reviewing in- formation, including video- recorded evidence, that she concluded Johnson had lied to her when the two dis- cussed the incident. John- son, in a statement issued the next day, said he did not ”intentionally mislead or de- ceive” anyone.
A new study has deter- mined that Atlanta is one of the most “sinful” cities in the nation.
WalletHub’s study com- pared 180 cities using 39 rele- vant metrics based on the Seven Deadly Sins of anger, hatred, jealousy, vices, greed, lust, vanity and laziness. Las Vegas ranked No.1 on the study, Los Angeles followed while St. Louis, Houston, and Atlanta rounded out the top five.
The study tries to measure the Biblical sins, using 39 met- rics including hate-crime inci- dents and the number of active Tinder users. Scores are based on a 100 point scale.
Los Angeles had the high- est vanity score, Portland and Tampa offer the most adult en- tertainment establishments
per capita, and residents of Madison, Wisconsin are the heaviest drinkers in the coun- try, according to the study. De- troit ranked highest in the anger and hate category.
The laziest city was Hialeah, Florida, where nearly half of school-age children are reportedly overweight.
Here’s Atlanta’s rankings (via ajc.com):
Overall: No. 5, with a score of 53.12
• Anger and hatred: 29
• Jealousy: 1
• Excesses and vices: 114 • Greed: 179
• Lust: 4
• Vanity: 9
• Laziness: 51
According to the study, Pearl City, Hawaii, is the least sinful.
ATLANTA
Evidence Tampering Alleged In Police Chief Firing Case
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