Last week, a video of a passenger being assaulted by a few online motorcycle taxi drivers went viral online, with the passenger apparently upsetting the drivers by canceling ride orders on them.
The passenger, identified as 28-year-old Jefri Ardiansyah, has given his account of the incident. Speaking to Detik from his hometown in Sidoarjo, East Java, he said that the attack occurred at midnight on July 25 as he was going home from work at Pondok Indah Mall (PIM) in South Jakarta.
When he got on a GrabBike he ordered, four men – three GrabBike drivers and one Go-Jek driver – approached him and attacked him for canceling his ride orders for them, as seen in the video. While Jefri did not deny that he had cancelled the orders, he believes that it’s no justification for violence against a passenger.
“In Grab (app) one can cancel if the ride takes too long to arrive. Why do cancellations necessitate a beating, violence?” he said, as quoted by Detik today.
Jefri counted that he received two punches to the head, two to the forehead, one to the neck, and two punches to his eye, causing one to bleed.
“The mall security guards broke it up about a minute later. After that, (the drivers) ran away while saying, ‘if you cancel one more time, you’re done,’” Jefri said.
Jefri went back to his hometown Sidoarjo on July 28 to be treated there. He said he reported the incident to the Kebayoran Lama Police, but they have not contacted him regarding developments in their investigation.
Grab Indonesia promised harsh sanctions against the drivers who attacked Jefri should they be identified and proven guilty.
