An Uber driver who was arrested Sunday for allegedly running down a bicyclist with his car in San Francisco’s Fisherman Wharf area handed over his driver’s license to the court today.
According to police, Emerson Decarvalho, 38, deliberately struck a 45-year-old bicyclist with his car following a dispute at about 1 p.m. Sunday near the intersection of North Point and Taylor streets. The collision left the victim with broken ribs and a broken collarbone.
Decarvalho, a Brazilian national who has resided in the U.S. since 2003 and was granted asylum and a U.S. green card in 2009, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault with a vehicle shortly after the collision.
The victim was bicycling near the intersection when he allegedly reached out his hand and struck the window of a black four-door Toyota Camry, driven by Decarvalho, according to police.
Decarvalho allegedly retaliated by intentionally hitting the bicyclist with his car, knocking him unconscious, police said.
Emergency crews transported the victim to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment of his injuries, which were not considered life threatening, police said.
Decarvalho was arrested, booked into jail and released after posting $75,000 bail.
At Decarvalho’s bail hearing this afternoon, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Daniel Flores gave him an option to either have bail set at around $250,000 or hand over his drivers license, agree not to operate any motorized vehicles and attend a supervised pretrial release program on a weekly basis.
Decarvalho chose to hand over his driver’s license and did so in court today.
Uber spokeswoman Kate Downen released a statement on behalf of the ride-booking company following the collision that Uber is gathering more information and would assist in the investigation.
According to Uber’s code of conduct posted on its website, the ride-booking service has developed safety guidelines for drivers to adhere to and maintain that any violation of the code of conduct will result in a driver’s loss and deactivation of his or her Uber partner account.
Hannah Albarazi, Bay City News
