Atlanta sports reporter addresses incident with Uber driver at press conference

CaptionAtlanta sports reporter Tabitha Turner left joined by her attorney Miguel Dominguez right at a June press conference to discuss the physical altercation Turner had with an Uber driver Credit Screenshot On Wednesday Atlanta sports reporter Tabitha Turner who works with the WNBA and NBA for the Atlanta Dream and Atlanta Hawks was joined by her attorney for a June press conference to discuss an situation involving an Uber driver that escalated to a physical altercation and triggered a social media frenzy The press event was streamed live According to the police assessment from the Hapeville Police Department on June around p m Turner was picked up from an Uber driven by Mericole Smith at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Turner s attorney Miguel Dominguez with Dominguez Law Firm claimed Turner was returning from a work trip when she ordered an Uber to get home from the airport Dominguez noted that Turner ordered an Uber Comfort which allows passengers to choose their preferences for the ride such as talking to the driver temperature etc at a higher price than a standard Uber He stated Turner requested a cool Uber and cited Atlanta s hot weather What Turner realized right off the rip in the wagon pulling up is that all the windows were down Dominguez stated She was a little thrown-off given what she inputted into the app there was no air conditioning on and the windows were down and we ve got -degree plus weather outside He explained Turner declares she anticipated that Smith would roll up the windows and turn on the air conditioning before they got onto the expressway on I- but that did not happen So the first communication she had with the driver was to ask that the air conditioning be put on and that the windows be rolled up When sought by a reporter why Smith wouldn t roll up the windows Turner announced the driver was worried about catching illnesses from riders That customers who are sick Smith likes to leave the windows down in matter customers are sick and that she never rolls them up on her rides Turner revealed According to the statement the interaction escalated when Turner appealed Smith to roll up the windows The response that she got from the driver was not kind and was not friendly but to decide you re gonna tell the tourist you know what we re done you need to get out with your bags on the side of the expressway is not a reasonable request by any stretch of the imagination Dominguez disclosed After arguing Smith informed Turner to get out of the car Turner began recording on her phone and Smith pepper sprayed her Smith hit Turner who was blinded from the spray and swung back in self-defense Turner then exited the car and escaped to the wood line where she called the police The studying officer saw visible injury marks on Turner s left shoulder and elbow and took two pepper spray containers from her one of which she had grabbed from the driver during the struggle after she was sprayed Although in the overview Turner revealed she indicated the police the video from her phone the police could not see it due to the sunlight and the chaotic crime scene After Turner and Smith gave their comment to the police Smith was taken to the hospital for her injuries and later the responding officer took Turner to the MARTA train station at East Point The officer questioned to re-watch Turner s video and determined that Smith was the primary aggressor after watching She swung and struck Turner in the head and upper torso the officer stated in the assessment Smith then used a non-deadly weapon against Turner in the form of pepper spray This temporarily blinded Turner who struck back and scratched the face of Smith in self-defense A warrant was issued for Smith s arrest for charges of battery and simple battery as misdemeanors Following the occurrence Smith posted two videos on TikTok drawing over a million views She is lacing her narrative with falsehoods and misrepresentations trying to get the masses to turn against this violent and unreasonable visitor that just so happens to be in the community eye Dominguez declared This is taking advantage of somebody that she thinks has something to lose And we re here to fight that and to push back The law firm shared that Smith s post has caused a lot of backlash against Turner including threats of violence A large number of are also calling for Turner to lose her job My client unfortunately has had numerous ramifications over the last hours Dominguez commented She s been contacted by league representatives both NBA and WNBA about her role and participation in this Thank God she had the presence of mind to videotape what she did when she started Turner recalled the backlash she s received on social media I ve received threats via social media about my karma that s coming to me she announced Defaming my character calling me all kinds of names saying things about why I attacked her and just how horrible a person I am They ve reached out to people I work with and work for She announced she fears for her safety and future job opportunities I have a one-year-old daughter that I like to take to the games with me and I can t take her because I don t know who s going to be there to attack me based on what she s saying I have opportunities with the league that I don t know if they are going to happen now I ve got threats and I m so grateful to the Dream for standing by me and for telling me that if I need extra guard they got me Turner announced I didn t ask for this Dominguez declared he and his client have not been in contact with Uber as it was an isolated circumstance but when they do they will want to look into their process of assigning drivers their system of charging customers for elevated rides and their policies for their drivers Dominguez also revealed it is very likely he will file a civil action relating to the case The post Atlanta sports reporter addresses circumstance with Uber driver at press conference 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