Uber driver charged following investigation into four sexual assaults in Toronto

Toronto police have arrested a 38-year-old Uber driver following an investigation into alleged sexual assaults against four different women between December 2017 and November 2018.

In two of the cases, the women had ordered an Uber, but were picked up by an Uber driver who was not assigned to them.

The first alleged incident occurred downtown at 2 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17, when the driver picked up a 31-year-old woman, drove her to an area, and sexually assaulted her, the Toronto Police Service said in a news release on Friday.

The next incident occurred at around 2 a.m. on Saturday, April 18, when an unassigned Uber driver is alleged to have picked up a 19-year-old woman, taking her to a secluded area and sexually assaulting her before she fought him off and fled.

Two other incidents occurred on July 2 and Oct. 13. In those allegations, a 36-year-old woman and a 35-year-old woman were sexually assaulted after being approached by a man who offered them rides.

Police say that Senol Komec, 28, of Vaughan was charged in court on Oct. 18, 2018, with four counts of sexual assault and four counts of forcible confinement.

Uber has said it is committed to ensuring safe rides for women.

“What’s been reported is horrible and something no person should go through," an Uber spokesperson said in an email sent to National Observer on Friday. "As soon as we learned about these incidents, we immediately removed the driver’s access to the app.”

Uber also said it would provide information to investigators and cooperate as needed. It saw no evidence that any of the incidents had occurred through the Uber smartphone app.

The company offers an incident response team for emergencies 24 hours a day and seven days a week. It also encourages users and drivers to rate each other and provide feedback.

The company says it reviews this information and has a safety team that investigates any issues.

Police say that anyone with further information should contact them at 416-808-7474.

Editor's note: This article was updated at 4:00 p.m. ET on Nov. 23, 2018 with new comments from Uber.

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