A female Uber driver survived an attempted kidnapping by jumping out of her SUV whilst it was travelling at 96kph.
26-year-old Carolina Vargas from Nashville says her passenger Christopher Miller, 51, who was seated in the back of her Ford Explorer allegedly pulled a knife on her.
Vargas first encountered Miller when he ordered a ride to Cleveland, Tennessee claiming his semi-truck had broken down. She dropped him off at a hotel outside Chattanooga and made plans - without the use of the Uber app - to pick him up and drive him back to Nashville.
On the return leg of the journey, Miller forced her to drive to Georgia and allegedly hit Vargas in the ribs, and pulled a knife on her. Fearing for her life, she worked up the courage to jump out of the moving SUV after she decided it was her only chance to escape. She lost three teeth, has a blood clot in her brain, dozens of bruises and scratches and her leg was also run over by her Explorer.
A good Samaritan stopped on the shoulder of the road to help Vargas and called the police who obtained information from the hotel where Miller had stayed. They tracked his phone's GPS locating him at a Jacksonville, Florida, hotel where he was caught with several weapons.
Miller was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, hijacking a motor vehicle, aggravated assault and possession of a knife during a crime by Florida authorities
