Uber passenger attacks driver, steals car in North Naples

Published: Updated:
Hunter Cook mug

Deputies have arrested a man who they said attacked a 54-year-old Uber driver after she picked him up outside a popular supermarket/restaurant.

An Uber driver picked up a man from Seed to Table in North Naples to take him to Bonita Beach Road, where deputies said he made several vulgar comments about the driver’s ethnicity.

Once the Uber driver made it to Hunter Cook’s destination, he attacked her, forced her out of the car and took off in it. 

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office said Cook choked and beat the victim.

The report from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said the victim tried to call police once she got to Bonita Beach Road when Cook refused to get out before he threw her phone.

In a surveillance video from a local bait and tackle shop where the scene unfolded, Cook threw something, grabbed the victim out of the driver’s seat and took off.

The attack happened on June 24, but deputies did not arrest the suspect until this Monday, after a subpoena was issued for his Uber account. 

Uber riders like Jay Bryant said they’re happy he’s off the streets.

“I hope the guy serves a long time for it,” said Collier County resident, Jay Bryant. “You get in a car with a man and you never know. It just takes that one bad time, like that lady had.”

The Uber driver said she’s still shaken up and going to therapy over the incident.

“He could’ve taken my life, and I was working,” said the victim, speaking in Spanish. “Generating money to Uber and making money for me… for him to come and mess up my night the way he did. It was a bad experience that I don’t want to go through ever again because I am still shaking, and I’m in therapy.”

The surveillance videos are not being released for fear that their release may interfere with the investigation.

WINK News reached out to Uber, and they said as soon as this incident was reported to them, they banned Cook from their service.

Cook is also banned from stepping foot on the property of Seed to Table and contacting the victim.

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