|
Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the Cook County State's
Attorney's Office, said new evidence was brought to prosecutors
prompting them to dismiss the charges against Maxime Fohounhedo.
"The case was charged in good faith based upon the accounting
provided by the complaining witness as well as physical
evidence," Daly said.
"This new evidence was thoroughly reviewed and authenticated and
after consultation with the complaining witness the charges were
dismissed."
The Chicago Tribune newspaper reported that the evidence was a
video, roughly nine minutes in length, which Fohounhedo recorded
with his cell phone during the November ride. On the video, the
two can be heard engaging in friendly conversation.
"At the end, she gives him a big hug and a big kiss,"
Fohounhedo's attorney, Shady Yousif, told the Tribune. "That's
not somebody who's in fear of her life."
Fohounhedo, who was immediately removed from the ride-sharing
Uber service when the allegations were revealed, has been in
jail since his arrest in December, the Tribune reported.
A second Chicago Uber driver was charged with sexually
assaulting a passenger in January.
The district attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles said in
December they had filed a lawsuit against Uber for misleading
customers about its background checks on drivers.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Kim Coghill)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
