Atlanta sports reporter addresses incident with Uber driver at press conference

On Wednesday, Atlanta sports reporter Tabitha Turner, who works with the WNBA and NBA for the Atlanta Dream and Atlanta Hawks, was joined by her attorney for a June 21 press conference to discuss an incident involving an Uber driver that escalated to a physical altercation and triggered a social media frenzy. The press event was streamed live.

Caption

Tabitha Turner.

Credit: Courtesy of Dominguez Law Firm

According to the police report from the Hapeville Police Department, on June 21, around 3:40 p.m., Turner was picked up from an Uber driven by Mericole Smith at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Turner's attorney, Miguel Dominguez, with Dominguez Law Firm, claimed Turner was returning from a work trip when she ordered an Uber to get home from the airport.

Dominguez noted that Turner ordered an Uber Comfort, which allows passengers to choose their preferences for the ride, such as talking to the driver, temperature, etc., at a higher price than a standard Uber. He said Turner requested a cool Uber, and cited Atlanta's hot weather.

"What [Turner] realized, right off the rip, in the vehicle pulling up is that all the windows were down," Dominguez said. "She was a little thrown-off, given what she inputted into the app...there was no air conditioning on and the windows were down, and we've got 90-degree plus weather outside."

He said Turner claims she anticipated that Smith would roll up the windows and turn on the air conditioning before they got onto the expressway on I-85, but that did not happen. "So the first communication she had with the driver was to ask that the air conditioning be put on and that the windows be rolled up."

When asked by a reporter why Smith wouldn't roll up the windows, Turner said the driver was worried about catching illnesses from riders,

"That customers who are sick—[Smith] likes to leave the windows down in case customers are sick and that she never rolls them up on her rides," Turner said.

According to the report, the interaction escalated when Turner asked Smith to roll up the windows.

"The response that she got from the driver was not kind and was not friendly...but to decide you're gonna tell the passenger, 'you know what, we're done, you need to get out with your bags on the side of the expressway' is not a reasonable request by any stretch of the imagination," Dominguez said.

After arguing, Smith told Turner to get out of the car. Turner began recording on her phone and Smith pepper sprayed her. Smith hit Turner, who was blinded from the spray and swung back in self-defense. Turner then exited the car and escaped to the wood line, where she called the police.

The investigating officer saw visible injury marks on Turner's left shoulder and elbow and took two pepper spray containers from her, one of which she had grabbed from the driver during the struggle after she was sprayed.

Although in the report Turner said she showed the police the video from her phone, the police could not see it due to the sunlight and the "chaotic crime scene."

After Turner and Smith gave their statement to the police, Smith was taken to the hospital for her injuries, and later the responding officer took Turner to the MARTA train station at East Point.

The officer asked to re-watch Turner's video and determined that Smith was the primary aggressor after watching.

"She swung and struck [Turner] in the head and upper torso," the officer stated in the report. "Smith then used a non-deadly weapon against [Turner] in the form of pepper spray. This temporarily blinded [Turner], who struck back and scratched the face of Smith in self-defense."

A warrant was issued for Smith's arrest for charges of battery and simple battery as misdemeanors.

Following the incident, Smith posted two videos on TikTok, drawing over a million views.

"She is lacing her narrative with falsehoods and misrepresentations, trying to get the public to turn against this violent and unreasonable passenger that just so happens to be in the public eye," Dominguez said. "This is taking advantage of somebody that she thinks has something to lose. And we're here to fight that and to push back."

The law firm shared that Smith's post has caused a lot of backlash against Turner including threats of violence. Many are also calling for Turner to lose her job.

"My client, unfortunately, has had many ramifications over the last 48 hours," Dominguez said. "She's been contacted by league representatives, both NBA and WNBA, about her role and participation in this. Thank God she had the presence of mind to videotape what she did when she started."

Turner recalled the backlash she's received on social media.

"I've received threats via social media about my karma that's coming to me," she said. "Defaming my character, calling me all kinds of names, saying things about why I attacked her and just how horrible a person I am. They've reached out to people I work with and work for."

She said she fears for her safety and future job opportunities.

"I have a one-year-old daughter that I like to take to the games with me, and I can't take her because I don't know who's going to be there to attack me based on what she's saying. I have opportunities with the league that I don't know if they are going to happen now...I've got threats and I'm so grateful to the Dream for standing by me and for telling me that if I need extra security, they got me," Turner said. "I didn't ask for this."

Dominguez said he and his client have not been in contact with Uber as it was an isolated incident, but when they do, they will want to look into their process of assigning drivers, their system of charging customers for elevated rides, and their policies for their drivers.

Dominguez also said it is "very likely" he will file a civil action relating to the incident.