While Uber drivers are most often tasked with simply ferrying passengers from one location to another, some have gone well above and beyond the call of duty in their service to others by saving lives.
Last month, Paul Bessette of Chicago, Ill., 38, agreed to provide a ride for a man who was helping a friend close down a bar in that city’s Chinatown district. Outside the bar, while he was waiting for his fare to emerge, Bessette witnessed three assailants attempt to rob a 58-year-old man.
Bessette blared on his car horn, causing one of the robbers to draw a gun and fire a shot through his driver’s side window, striking him in the chest. Bessette was able to speed away from the scene, call 911 and get whisked off by ambulance to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.
Both Bessette and the robbery victims survived their wounds, and are expected to make a full recovery.
Lynnette Gentry of Lincoln, Neb., has given 2,770 Uber rides since becoming a driver in 2016. She has also earned more than 1,500 five-star reviews from passengers, meaning over half of the people she’s given rides to in the past eight years have rated her service with the highest-possible designation.
Like Bessette, Gentry also made a grand effort for her passenger beyond just giving him a ride.
Earlier this summer, passenger Don Kubik left his phone in Gentry’s car. Gentry not only took the time to return Kubik’s phone, but struck up a friendship with him that proved to be life-changing for them both–and in the case of Kubik, life-saving.
On June 24, Gentry picked Kubik up at the Hy-Vee less than a mile from his home and during the trip, Kubik said he was feeling hot. As it turned out, Kubik was beginning to suffer from a stroke.
Gentry drove to Kubik’s apartment complex and cooled him down with the ice packs in her vehicle, before calling an ambulance and staying with him until emergency medical services arrived.
When Kubik was treated and later released from the hospital, Gentry was there to give him a way home.
In another example, Uber driver Brandon Gale was called into service above just providing a ride to his passenger: Gale was asked to pretend to be his passenger’s paramour, in order for her to elude the advances of an aggressive man trying to flirt with her. He was up to the task.
Gale expressed to passengers who need to escape a potentially-dangerous situation to use the messaging system within their mobile apps.
“You can make special requests that could possibly save your life,” Gale said.