Uber admitted Monday that it failed to act on a report that driver Jason Dalton was acting like a maniac behind the wheel about an hour before cops say he went on a deadly shooting spree.
Passenger Matt Mellen has said he called police and complained to Uber about having to jump out of Dalton’s car around 4:30 p.m. Saturday because Dalton was speeding, driving on lawns and medians, and “running stop signs” in Kalamazoo, Mich.
During a Monday afternoon conference call with reporters, an Uber exec said the company was contacted about Dalton by several passengers, including one who also called 911.
But Uber takes action over allegations of “bad driving” only after speaking to the driver, because it doesn’t want to “overreact to one piece of feedback,” said Joe Sullivan, the company’s chief security officer.
An Uber spokesman also told The Guardian that Mellen’s complaint “fell into that back bucket.”
Meanwhile, after the rampage, Dalton confessed “that he took people’s lives,” a detective testified Monday.
Authorities have yet to learn why Dalton, 45, allegedly opened fire during three separate incidents Saturday night, in between picking up and dropping off fares.
Six people were killed and two were wounded.
Dalton, who appeared via video link from the local jail, didn’t enter a plea to six counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and eight weapons charges. He declined to make a statement and was ordered held without bail pending another court date on March 3.
In addition to a semiautomatic pistol found in Dalton’s car, cops seized 11 rifles from his home, according to CNN.
Three hours before the rampage, Dalton spent $85 on a black 5.11 Tactical-brand jacket with a special chest pocket for hiding a handgun, the Kalamazoo Gazette reported.
Meanwhile, it emerged that a 14-year-old girl who was shot during the rampage and was declared brain-dead and about to have her organs harvested suddenly showed signs of life.
The girl unexpectedly squeezed her mom’s hand, then did it a second time when the mom asked if her daughter could hear her, Michigan State Police Lt. Dale Hinz told ABC News.
She also gave thumbs-up signs with both hands when a doctor asked her to give him a thumbs-up if she could hear him, Hinz said.