Arrest in Uber assault case

The Uber passenger who reported being attacked by a driver in Philadelphia last month has a name to put to his suspected assailant.

Major C. Fuller, 57, was arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person, according to Philadelphia Common Pleas Court records. Matthew Luber, the Marlton-based lawyer representing the victim, confirmed that Fuller was the suspect in his client's assault.

Fuller is being held on $10,000 bail, according to the court records.

Uber declined Thursday to comment on the arrest or on Fuller's history with the company.

About 11 p.m. Dec. 22, Joseph Fusco, 31, of Cherry Hill, director of public safety at Cabrini College, left a corporate Christmas party at Cavanaugh's Restaurant & Sports Bar in University City. Fusco hailed an Uber to get back across the Delaware, he said in a lawsuit filed against the company, and met the Toyota Corolla on Market Street, according to the suit. Fusco got in the vehicle's front passenger seat and told the driver he wanted to go to New Jersey.

According to the lawsuit, the driver refused, and when Fusco asked again, the driver got out of the car and pulled Fusco from the seat. The suit alleges that the driver beat Fusco and "stomped and kicked the plaintiff while he was already unconscious." The attack was caught on surveillance video, according to the lawsuit.

After the assault, Fusco found a charge for a 28-minute ride on his Uber app. The company later reimbursed him, the suit states.

Wednesday's arrest is not Fuller's first, according to court records. In 1984, he was found guilty of carrying a firearm in a public place and was sentenced to probation. Uber's background-check process, according to the San Francisco-based company's safety overview, requires applicants to have no convictions for felonies, violent crimes, sex offenses, child abuse or endangerment, or driving-related offenses within the last seven years.

Fusco lost teeth and suffered facial fractures in the attack and is seeking to hold Uber liable for his assault.