Uber Driver Allegedly Drags Gay Man After Watching Him Kiss Husband

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The Driver Also Hurls Homophobic Insults At The Couple

A gay couple found themselves victims of homophobic violence in NYC recently.

According to New York Post, Taray Carey and his husband of less than a month, Alex Majkowski, were on their way to a bar with a friend when they ordered a ride-share Uber near West 52nd Street and Ninth Avenue around 1:50 a.m.

As the passengers were nearing the end of their ride, Carey and Majkowski shared a kiss in the backseat of the Toyota Camry. Then, according to Carey, the driver proceeded to ask them “Are you f*gs?”

Carey couldn’t believe what he heard and he asked the driver to repeat himself. “Are you f—-ts? Are you f—-ts?” the driver allegedly said. “In my country you’d be beheaded for that,” he continued, saying he was from Russia.

The driver was identified as “Denis” by a screenshot Carey took of his Uber profile. After the questions, Denis allegedly “started driving like a moron,” according to Carey. “His hatred of gays was beyond his self-preservation.”

When the car stopped at a red light, the couple’s friend hopped out the car first. Carey then tried to follow and was almost out the door when he realized he was still caught onto his seat belt. This is when the driver took off again. Carey said he was dragged about a quarter of a block, causing him to suffer nasty scrapes on his hands and knee. He also had a “golf ball”-sized welt on the back of his head.

Meanwhile, Majkowski was still inside the vehicle and Carey says he got up to run after the car. Majkowski was finally able to make it out safely when the Uber stopped at a red light again. “If I had caught up to that car with my husband in the back, I’d be the one in jail,” said Carey.

“I’m not used to feeling so defenseless,” thee 6-foot-3 one-time Temple University linebacker said. Carey now works as a real estate agent and contractor, while his husband is an architect.

To make things even worse, Carey says the NYPD shrugged off the couples account. “The police laughed,” said Carey. “[One officer] said, ‘You probably deserved it.’”

The NYPD retorted Carey’s claims, saying body camera footage contradicted his account. “After reviewing body camera video from the responding Police Officers, at no time did any of the officers mock the victim, tell him that he probably deserved it or laugh at him,” they said in a statement. “A complaint report was filed for leaving the scene of an accident with injury and is being investigated by the 9th Precinct Detective Squad.”

Carey has since been refunded the $17.46 he paid and a spokesperson for the driving service said the rogue driver’s access to the app has been removed as they continue to investigate.