Man says he warned police, Uber and Lyft about driver who punched him and allegedly delivered a fatal kick to taxi driver weeks later

Taxi driver Anis Tungekar, who died in September, two days after an Uber driver allegedly kicked him in the head during a traffic dispute.

A Chicago attorney claims he was beaten by a ride-hailing driver last summer weeks before the driver is alleged to have fatally kicking a taxi driver.

Attorney Scott Gore was in the man’s car during a ride with the ride-hailing company Lyft — the driver worked for both Uber and Lyft — headed to a Cubs game from his North Side home when he asked to get out short of his destination. An argument ensued and Gore got out of the car at a stoplight. So did the driver.

“He says to me ‘You wanna fight?’ and I said, ‘You hit me and I’ll sue you,’ and he hit me,” Gore told the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday.

Gore said he reported the July 1 incident to both Uber and Lyft and filed a police report. A detective contacted him six weeks later about coming in to identify the man in a lineup, but by then Gore had taken a let-bygones-be-bygones approach.

“I was trying to be a nice guy and chalked it up to the guy was having a bad day,” he said. “But he was actually a violent person, and if he had been put away, this taxi driver would still be alive.”

In hindsight, Gore wishes he had been more proactive in following up with police.

“If I had been a squeaky wheel and called the cops every day and said, ‘Look, I really want someone to call me back.’ ... If I had been more diligent, I could have done a lineup within two weeks, I’m sure.”

Chicago attorney Scott Gore says the same ride-hailing driver who punched him went on to fatally kick a taxi driver. Gore took a photograph of his injured ear when he reported the incident.

Four weeks later, the same driver was working for Uber at the time when he got into a traffic dispute just west of downtown that ended with Anis Tungekar getting kicked in the head. Tungekar, 64, died two days later, and the Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide.

Gore’s allegations are spelled out in a civil lawsuit filed Monday by Tungekar’s family against Uber seeking $10 million in compensation for negligently hiring and retaining the services of the driver. The driver, Fangqi Lu, is also named as a defendant.

“Uber’s business model is designed to place profit over people,” said attorney Mike Gallagher, who represents the Tungekar family. “As a result, they knowingly allowed a violent individual to continue to act as driver, and my client paid with his life.”

Lu, 30, was arrested immediately after the incident but was released and later fled to China.

Chicago police had recommended that prosecutors charge Lu with a felony, but the state’s attorney’s Felony Review Unit declined to approve charges, stating more investigative work needed to be done.

An arrest warrant for first-degree murder was issued Dec. 26, but Lu had already fled the country.

“Now that he’s in China ... we have to work with the State Department on that,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi previously told the Sun-Times. “And currently there is no extradition” between the United States and China.

Tungekar’s family in March sued the Cook County state’s attorney’s office over the release of records that could help explain why charges weren’t filed in the case. That suit is pending.

“The allegations described are deeply concerning. Safety is fundamental to Lyft and there is absolutely no place in the Lyft community for violence of any kind,” a Lyft spokeswoman said. “Upon learning of this incident in July, Lyft immediately deactivated the driver and reached out to the passenger to offer our support. We stand ready to assist law enforcement.”

Spokespeople for Uber and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office did not immediately respond Monday to requests for comment.