New Uber Driver Shocked to Find Out He Was Getaway Driver in Armed Robbery
Police then showed up at the unwitting driver’s house, instructing him and his family to exit with their hands up.
If you're going to rob a bank, gas station, convenience store, or other location, you're going to need a getaway vehicle. But what if you don't have a car or your own Baby Driver behind the wheel? For one criminal in New Mexico, that meant calling an Uber to assist with the bad deed.
In a story that sounds like it should've come straight from Florida, Albuquerque Uber driver Terry Owens had police surround his house, making his family come out with their hands up. According to local outlet KOAT, Owens is a new Uber driver, and his last fare of Sunday night robbed the gas station he drove them to. Police determined that Owens was driving the getaway vehicle and quickly identified him.
After police figured out what was up, they were then able to quickly find and arrest the actual criminal named Austen Harris, who pleaded guilty in court.
Harris, who has a checkered past according to court records, was sentenced to drug rehab and had violated the terms of his probation.
Harris apparently robbed the store using a pair of scissors as a weapon, and Owens even questioned him about the scissors while he was giving the guy a ride home. He allegedly told Owens that he was cutting strings off his jacket.
There's a moral of the story somewhere in all this. Of course crime doesn't pay, but when you use a random third-party to participate in the act, they have zero motivation to cover for you. Also, Uber accounts are easily tracked thanks to GPS location and having to use a paperless form of payment with your name attached.
Using Uber to commit a crime is a terrible, even if convenient, idea.
