North Texas Uber driver says he was robbed, beaten by passengers

A North Texas Uber driver's jaw had to be wired shut after he says passengers beat and robbed him.

The Uber driver tells FOX 4 he was dropping off some passengers in the Knox-Henderson area of Dallas when an argument turned violent.

The driver had his jaw broken in multiple places, had to go through two surgeries and still has his mouth wired shut from the injuries he got that night. He's hopeful police can track down his attacker.

Jordan Smith's mouth is wired shut so it's hard for him to speak. He can't feel anything in part of his face, and he says his doctors told him it could be two years until he's fully recovered. It’s all from injuries he got several weeks ago on July 5 while driving for Uber.

Smith says he normally doesn't drive late, but he needed the extra money. Just before 2 a.m. on July 5, he picked up four men from Deep Ellum and drove them to an apartment off North Garrett Avenue in Knox-Henderson. He noticed one passenger taking things from his car and started recording on his cell phone, which one of the men grabbed.

“The guy who took the phone just did a full throw as hard as he could back down the street,” he recalled.

Smith went to get his phone and went back to his van but noticed his car key missing. When he confronted the group, one of them started attacking.

“The second hit knocked me all the way to the ground where my face was against the concrete. And then he hit me again right there,” he recalled. “I got the point where he was screaming, ‘Don't move!’ I really didn't want to move because I thought I could actually end up dying from getting hit so hard in the face.”

After the men finally walked away, another Uber driver, Colt Corey, happened to be picking up a ride in the same area and called 911.

“He tried to explain them, but he was having such a hard time talking. I told the dispatcher where we were,” Corey recalled. “He had blood going down his entire cheek right there. Blood was crusted on his face already. He had blood on his arms.”

Dallas police are investigating the incident as a robbery. They say they’re trying to see if Smith's case is related to other similar incidents.

In the meantime, Smith has a long recovery ahead of him. He hopes Uber makes more changes to protect drivers as well as passengers.

“We need to be able to protect ourselves,” he said.

Uber says the rider has been banned from the app, and police are trying to work with Uber to identify the group. 

Smith says he doesn't plan to get back to driving for Uber after what happened.