Woman who ‘shot Uber driver she thought was kidnapping her to Mexico’ charged with murder as he dies
A woman accused of shooting her Uber driver she mistakenly thought was kidnapping her to Mexico has been charged with murder following his death.
Phoebe Copas, 48, allegedly shot her Uber driver Daniel Piedra Garcia, 52, in the head on June 16 after he picked her up in El Paso, Texas, where she saw a traffic sign that read, ‘Juarez, Mexico’.
Garcia suffered life-threatening injuries and was placed on life support due to multiple gunshot wounds, according to a complaint affidavit. His family took him off life support on Wednesday, his wife Ana Piedra wrote in a GoFundMe page.
‘Originally, they (doctors) told us that he was brain dead due to where the bullet that went in him destroyed his brain,’ Piedra Garcia’s niece Didi Lopez told the El Paso Times on Thursday.
Doctors informed the family that Piedra Garcia’s brain was destroyed.
‘There was a percentage of his brain that was still functioning, but that was going to be his status forever. He would need to be on life support forever. There was nothing that they could do. There was nothing,’ Lopez said.
‘His status was not gonna change if we did not disconnect him. It was basically just gonna be like in a vegetative state.
We didn’t want to see him suffering. We didn’t want him to live out his life like that.’
Copas was initially arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and booked into El Paso County Jail on a $1million bond.
Piedra Garcia’s death has upgraded the charge against her to murder, according to the El Paso Police Department. Her bond has been set at $1.5million.
A bond hearing for Copas was scheduled for last Friday afternoon but was postponed to an indefinite date, KFOX reported.
Copas, of Tompkinsville, Kentucky, was visiting her boyfriend in the border city and ordered an Uber to take her to the Speaking Rock Casino, where she was to meet him after work.
After seeing the Juarez traffic sign on US 54 highway and reportedly assuming Piedra Garcia was abducting her, she pulled a ‘silver and brown handgun from her purse’ and shot him, according to court documents.
Police arrived to find Copas’ boyfriend helping her out of the vehicle and saw her ‘drop everything she was holding in her hands on the ground’ including the gun, documents state.
The affidavit states that ‘the roadway (Copas) was traveling on is a normal route to drive to the destination requested by the (Copas)’ and that the site of the car crash was ‘not in close proximity of a bridge, port of entry or other area with immediate access to travel into Mexico’.
Piedra Garcia was the sole provider for his family and had just started driving for Uber after recovering from a knee injury and surgery.
‘He was very happy to finally be able to work and bring home income for this tragedy to happen,’ states the GoFundMe page for his funeral expenses and hospital bills.
The fundraiser had garnered more than $83,000 as of Monday afternoon. A community vigil for Piedra Garcia was held on Friday.
‘We want justice. It wasn’t fair that that’s how the situation played out. I wish she would’ve spoken up, asked questions, not acted on impulse and make a reckless decision because not only did she ruin our lives, but she ruined her life, too,’ Lopez said of Copas.
‘We just want justice for him. That’s all we’re asking.’
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