Uber Driver's Dashcam Recorded the Moment a Man 'Too Drunk to Give Me Directions' Attacked and How the Driver Fought Back

It was 8 p.m. on Friday night — the start of the Halloween weekend.

Prime time for drivers giving rides using the popular Uber app to hit the road.

Edward Caban was one such driver. He thought it was early enough that he would avoid some of the antics one might expect of passengers in the late-night, early-morning hours, but he was wrong.

The passenger was ultimately arrested and charged with two misdemeanors. (Image source: YouTube)

Caban's dashcam video captured the moment an allegedly drunk passenger turned violent, followed by the quick action he himself took for protection.

The first couple of minutes from the video shows Caban's view of the road ahead, the audio revealing that he was having trouble with directions from the passenger.

"Dude, you got to give me directions," Caban told the man in the backseat, who seemed to struggle with figuring out where he was.

Generally, Uber riders input their destination address in the app, but Caban said in the video that the passenger "refused to."

"Well, you better turn you ass around," the passenger said as Caban got into a left-turn lane, stopping at the red light.

After about a minute, Caban turned the camera to face the backseat.

When the light turned green and Caban got going, the camera captured the passenger in the back slumping from side to side with the motion of the car.

And with that Caban had had enough.

"Alright, man, I've gotta kick you out," he said, as he pulled to the side of the road.

"You're too drunk to give me directions, man," Caban added when the man protested.

The pair continued to argue about the status of the car ride for a few more moments with Caban threatening to call the police if he didn't exit. When the passenger seemed to finally accepted that he had to beat it, he opened the door but instead of hitting the road, he hit Caban.

"Let me tell you something you little s**t," the man said as he slapped Caban in the head.

Image source: YouTube

The man then proceeded to hit Caban, pulled his hair and swore at him.

Caban, though, managed to grab his pepper spray, and hit the man with a stream.

Image source: YouTube

"Call the police! Yeah, that's what happened. Call the police," Caban said as they both exited the car. "You got maced."

Watch the footage (Content warning: strong language):

The passenger was identified by Costa Mesa, California, police as 32-year-old Benjamin Golden. He was arrested for public intoxication and for attacking a cab driver, according to KABC-TV.

As for Caban, he told the news station, "I didn't think something like this would happen this early in the night. That's why I stopped driving 2 a.m. shifts, for this very reason."

He added to KNBC-TV, "I have lost so much money on people like him and I’m done dealing with it. They take the food right out of my mouth."

Uber as a company banned Golden from using the app again and is paying to clean the pepper spray out of Caban's car, according to the news station.