Christmas Bonus

Life as a Taxi, Private hire or Uber driver is probably interesting, when you meet people with all sorts of reasons for using your service .....

How Mr Christmas Should
Have Been Dressed For Christmas.

.... going home, going to parties, job interviews, escaping abusive partners etc .... in fact all of human life (including giving birth), must pass through your car doors if you do the job long enough. 

But there are a few situations that you wouldn't expect to encounter .....

In late November 2022 an Uber driver in Michigan was called to to pick up a Mr Jason Christmas, and was asked to take him to a bank in Huntington. When they got there Mr Christmas asked him if he would wait while he went in. After a small wait, Mr Christmas came out and got back in the car, and the driver duly took him home to the Heights of Southfield in Lahser.

When they got to Mr Christmases home, he was dropped off, and the Uber departed, However Christmas was met by Southfield Police outside his apartment block and he was arrested for the armed robbery of the bank. While he was on the ground being cuffed, a body-cam videod police asking him if he had been shot, because of "red stuff" that was all over him. The seasonal red stuff was in fact not blood, but from the dye packs that was put in with the money that the bank handed over to him. The money, which police pulled from his pockets, was covered in red dye and in fact nearly useless.

Meanwhile the Uber driver had been pulled over nearby on I-696, after Southfield police found his car number plate on surveillance video from the bank, but he was totally innocent and unaware of the crime .... but would have a cleaning job as the indelible red dye had been smeared on to his back seats.

"Anytime you get a ride-share, your identity is shared with the driver who in turn, can share with law enforcement" Police Chief Barren said. They had identified Mr Christmas as the thief from that security footage of the Uber cab licence and had anticipated that he would come home. He added that "This is a very unusual way to commit an armed robbery in our city."

How Mr Christmas Was Dressed For Christmas.

It was believed that Christmas had committed the robbery of the bank to pay for his Christmas presents ... "There is a lot of anxiousness to buy gifts for your loved ones," Barren said. "This is that time of year when individuals try to take advantage of our community and commit these types of crimes."

Mr Christmas was charged with bank robbery. The judge set a large bond of half a million dollars cash, no 10 percent deposit, so Mr Christmas, definitely missed, err, Christmas. The irony here is also the reason why he used an Uber in the first place – he told police that his driving license was suspended, and he was worried about driving without one .... even when going to allegedly, commit a bank robbery.

..... well at least his heart was with the spirit of the season. Its not known if he tipped the Uber driver.