It’s Been a Year Since Kentucky Woman Killed El Paso Uber Driver
The past Sunday was Father’s Day and I hope all the dads had a great one. It also marked one year since an El Paso Uber driver was shot and killed by a passenger from Kentucky.
She believed, for no reason at all, that the driver was kidnapping her to Mexico. He was driving south on U.S. Route 54, taking her to Speaking Rock Casino. She saw a sign that said “Juarez, Mexico” and that was all it took for 48 year old Phoebe Copas to shoot the driver, 52 year old Daniel Piedra Garcia.
Daniel Garcia died 5 days later in an El Paso hospital, leaving behind a wife and a 16 year old nephew that they had raised since he was three months old.
The Kentucky woman’s lawyer, Matthew Kozik, is hinting that there is “more to the story” than the police and media have told. Kozik makes a big deal about “the doors and windows of the Uber car being locked” and that “Uber doesn’t do thorough background checks” on their drivers, without making any allegation about Mr. Garcia. He’s laying the groundwork for a some kind of defense and it’s…something.
To be clear, El Paso police say he was clearly on route to the casino and that they we’re “not near any border crossing or bridge”. I don’t know what the lawyer is cooking up with his “more to the story” argument but it seems like the kind of things that make people not like lawyers.
The Garcia family says they’ve had to deal with on-line rumors that Daniel was a “kidnapper” or had some kind of ill-intent and that he had NO criminal record.
Phoebe Copas has one final plea hearing today, June 17th, a year and a day after she shot Daniel Garcia. If no plea is reached, her trial is scheduled to start on August 30th.
If convicted, she could be sentenced to 99 years to life in prison.
At a time when there’s a lot of “loose talk” about the border and some kind of inherent danger, this is a story we will follow closely.
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