Uber Driver Slashes Gay Man’s Face with Knife

Rene Almaraz, a gay man from California, had his faced “peeled off” in a knife attack by an Uber driver. Police refuse to press charges for the event that occurred last year, Lookout News reports. 

Rene was visiting Phoenix, Arizona with three friends when he got into an Uber outside Karamba Nightclub, a Latinx gay club. According to the police reports, Arnold Lawton, the Uber driver, appeared annoyed by the trio’s “gay lingo,” turning up the radio to drown out their conversation. Rene suggested to the driver to end the ride early if Arnold was offended.

Rene says this led to an argument where he attempted to escape the vehicle while Arnold issued homophobic slurs before slashing Rene’s face and hands with a knife. The attack required emergency hospital care because “half of his face seemed peeled off,” according to the report. 

Arnold didn’t deny attacking Rene but claimed to the police that he was defending himself from assault by the group. Arnold reported that he was “punched in the back of the head and on the side of his body so many times that he saw stars.”

Arizona has no laws protecting individuals from sexual-bias hate crimes. Rene believes there is still enough evidence to charge Arnold, however, he was notified by an LGBTQ+ liaison that the driver would not be charged due to insufficient evidence as decided by prosecutors. 

“We must be able to prove all elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt,” Mischa L. Hepner, deputy county attorney for Maricopa County, wrote in a letter to Rene. “If we are unable to do so, there is no reasonable likelihood of conviction at trial. For this reason, this submittal does not meet the charging standard for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and we are declining prosecution at this time.”

Rene disputes the claims of self-defense, telling Lookout, “I don’t understand how it could be deemed self-defense or why it was turned down. I was unarmed; he had multiple weapons in the car—It just didn’t make any sense. It was heartbreaking. I was completely assaulted and violated. I could have lost my life.”

Rene has since contacted the FBI for possible federal hate-crime charges. 

Photos courtesy social media