Who should be blamed here? An 11-year-old boy diagnosed with autism ordered an Uber to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York without his parents’ consent. The result is chaos.
‘Hi, are you the Uber?’
It’s a superlative of emotions here, seems the hardwork of the mom is getting spit on. The parents of the child named Joe Johnson, diagnosed with autism, stated he booked an Uber ride to John F. Kennedy International Airport without their consent. Will he travel alone? Not likely.
“He looks like a child,” Tenesha Johnson, the mom of Joe, told RSF. “Why would you let him get in your car and pull off?”
It’s also a tangle of possibilities in here. First of all, why did the Uber driver let the child in? For money?
A Ring camera recorded Joe walking out of his home in Valley Stream on Long Island, carrying his luggage on Sunday, June 28th – that Sunday! – to the car, an SUV.
“Hi. Are you the Uber?” the boy could be heard saying in the footage. He got into the Uber with the driver’s consent, and the driver drove him to the airport.
In the airport
At the airport, the airport staff found Joe wandering around the terminal alone, so the staff contacted the Port Authority Police Department immediately. So, he was brought to the department’s command post at the airport, where the medical team determined he was fine. They contacted his parents, and his father picked him up.
So, why did the New York boy suddenly book an Uber? He says he wanted to go to Japan, particularly to Fukuyama.
There are lots of best things to do in Fukuyama, such as exploring samurai history, touring the historic temples, savoring Japanese food, encountering the wildlife, and strolling through the fragrant cherry blossoms, though Joe is late for the springtime cherry blossom season.
That Sunday morning, his parents woke up to find their son had disappeared. Coincidence! So, they checked their security camera, to find, Joe was getting onto the Uber.
“We’re literally in frantic mode at that point,” Joe’s dad, real name Jamel, told ridesharing media, after making a call through his wife’s mobile, since his was missing. “[Port Authority] Police picked up, and that’s how we found out he was with them. They were like, ‘An Uber dropped him off. He got into the TSA line.’”
Should Uber merely pick up anybody?
Uber cannot always be there to monitor drivers and their actions, but due to financial insecurity, some drivers will simply pick and pick up people even if the person looks odd to be inside an Uber. Nice thing the child got money to spend, or was this report intentional? Never mind.
When asked by the RSF team, Uber stated they are concerned about this incident, and are glad Joe was reunited with his parents.
Right now, it’s the Uber driver who is in the wrong. They might not become familiar with Uber’s official guidelines that account holders must be 18 years or older. It’s easy to distinguish an 11-year-old from a person of legal age. And, if they are alone.
“I was pissed, quite honestly,” Tenesha pointed out. “He doesn’t present as an adult. He looks like a kid.”
And, with autism, too. The nerves! If this is done to you, what’s your take?
“It is really about getting the awareness of any family that has a child on the spectrum,” the dad told ridesharing media. “This could happen to you. And Uber itself needs to be more mindful of not just allowing anyone to get into their vehicles.”
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