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Uber driver helps prevent kidnapping

Posted at 2:32 PM, Apr 27, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-27 17:32:53-04

An Uber driver who was threatened by an armed woman called police who was able to get there in time to prevent a kidnapping.

Court records show that on April 16 around 5 a.m. an Uber driver contacted police after he was threatened by a woman with a gun. Officers responded in time to catch the woman who was trying to push another woman into her car.

Police say that the Uber driver drove up to a location near 51st Avenue and Northern Road and asked a woman if she was his client. The woman, later identified as 22 -year-old Elizabeth Diane Ward Escobar, allegedly pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the driver.

She told him that she was not her fare and he should leave the area.The Uber driver did leave, but stayed in the nearby area and contacted police.

Police say Escobar then pointed the gun at a woman and struck her in the face several times. She reportedly tried to push the victim into her car, but police, who were responding to the Uber driver's call, got there before Escobar could get the woman into her car.

The two women do know each other and used to live together. Escobar is being charged with assault and aggravated assault.