An Uber driver was arrested after allegedly sexually assaulting a passenger last week at Southern Methodist University’s (SMU) campus.
“The victim told police she was sexually assaulted by a rideshare driver who’d driven her to [the] campus,” read a statement from SMU. “She also notified family members, who later observed the suspect’s vehicle and flagged down a Dallas police officer. The Dallas officer followed the car to a location on Greenville Avenue and detained the driver.”
On October 14, at approximately 2:20 a.m., an SMU police officer responded to a call at a sorority house on Daniel Avenue regarding a sexual assault. When he arrived, the victim told him that her Uber driver sexually assaulted her after she fell asleep in his car on her way home, according to the arrest affidavit.
The affidavit said the victim told police that she was “suddenly awoken” after feeling the suspect’s hands on her. She said she got out of the car, but the suspect “walked her to the front door” of the house before leaving.
According to police, the victim then called her brother — who ordered the Uber — and told him what happened. He retrieved the vehicle’s description and license plate, along with a picture of the driver.
Her brother, who lives nearby, spotted the vehicle and followed it to the 5500 block of Greenville Avenue. He then flagged down a Dallas police officer, according to the affidavit.
The officer conducted a traffic stop and identified the driver as 50-year-old Anselmo Alejandro Amil Contreras — who apparently admitted to dropping off a passenger at the sorority house during the reported time frame.
Contreras was promptly arrested and booked into the Dallas County jail on charges of sexual assault.
SMU students said they received automated alerts following the incident.
An Uber spokesperson confirmed Monday that a driver was “deactivated” from its platform following the arrest.
