A woman who killed her Uber driver in El Paso, Texas, claims she believes that she was being kidnapped and smuggled into Mexico. The woman opened fire on her male Uber driver, shooting him multiple times in the head, after allegedly seeing a road sign for the Mexican city of Juárez and incorrectly assuming the Uber driver was taking her across the border, according to the Guardian.
On Friday, June 16, 48-year old Kentucky woman Phoebe Copas reportedly hailed an Uber ride to a casino in the El Paso Mission area. The 52-year old driver, Daniel Piedra Garcia, picked her up and the vehicle was en route to the casino, but police claim Copas came under the impression that Piedra was going off-route “...at some point during the drive,” and she shot the driver in the back of the head with a revolver.
There was no indication that Piedra was veering from the predetermined Uber route to the casino. In fact, the Uber vehicle was neither near a bridge, border crossing, nor other port of entry when Copas opened fire on Piedra. The woman shot the driver upon seeing a sign that read Juárez, as the Guardian reports:
She allegedly saw a road sign for the Mexican city of Juárez during the ride, believed she was being kidnapped, and shot Piedra, according to the El Paso Times. “The investigation does not support that a kidnapping took place or that Piedra was veering from Copas’ destination,” El Paso police said in a statement. The incident also did not take place near a bridge or any port of entry to Mexico, authorities said.
A criminal affidavit obtained by KTSM, a local news station, alleges that Copas did not call for help when she believed she was being kidnapped or after she shot Piedra. She allegedly took a photo of Piedra and sent it to her boyfriend, KTSM reported...
From the reports, it seems there was no attempt on Copas’ part to escape the alleged kidnapping attempt in other ways — either by demanding the driver stop the car or by her exiting the vehicle. There’s no mention of any struggle leading up to the shooting, nor even so much as an exchange between Copa and Piedra during which the woman could have clarified the route or asked about the alleged road sign indicating Juárez was nearby.
There’s nothing to indicate that Piedra was, indeed, veering off-course and taking his passenger to an unknown location. Furthermore, border crossings in Texas are clearly marked and heavily policed, or rather, have become heavily militarized. Both sides are patrolled and overseen by their respective state forces, meaning Copas would’ve been in little danger of being smuggled into the country against her will. She would’ve had ample opportunity to exit the vehicle, by force, if necessary, or to cry out for help from U.S. or Mexican authorities.
Instead, the Kentucky woman — who was presumably unfamiliar with the El Paso-Juárez border — decided to shoot the Uber driver at the sight of a road sign. Phoebe Copas is currently being held in El Paso county jail on one count of murder in connection with the killing of Daniel Piedra, on a $1.5 million bond.
Piedra did not immediately die following the shooting, but was taken off life support approximately one week after the incident. Piedra’s family went further into detail on the slain driver’s GoFundMe page, which the family started to cover hospital fees and funeral costs. They explain that Piedra was an out- of-work mechanic who had suffered a knee injury and was recovering from surgery when he started driving for Uber to provide for his family.
