Arna Kimiai who coughed on San Francisco Uber driver, Subhakar Khadka charged with two felonies. Faces 16 years in prison and $3,000 in in fines.
A California area woman who was caught on now viral video coughing on a San Francisco Uber driver after refusing to wear a face mask was on Wednesday booked with multiple offenses, including two felonies.
Arna Kimiai who refused to comply with Uber driver Subhakar Khadka requests, faced one count of attempted robbery and one count of assault on a transportation driver CBSSF reported.
Kimiai was also charged with two misdemeanor offenses: one count of battery on a transportation driver and one count of violating COVID-19 health protocols.
Robbery and conspiracy charges against Kimiai have been dropped, the San Francisco District Attorney’s office said.
Kimiai faces up to 16 years in prison and $3,000 in in fines.
UBER RIDERS COUGH ON, ASSAULT, PEPPER SPRAY DRIVER
Driver Subhakar Khadka, who is South Asian, says he believes he was targeted because of his race. He picked up 3 women in the Bayview yesterday afternoon on San Bruno Avenue. https://t.co/Tzr7kTfyKQ pic.twitter.com/f8PiHDZ9CZ— Betty Yu (@BettyKPIX) March 9, 2021
‘I just coughed a little bit’
Kimiai, along with Malaysia King, 24 were arrested after the videotaped assault on an Subhakar Khadka on March 7.
In the video, Kimiai can be seen deliberately coughing on the hapless Uber driver, while laughing and yelling racial slurs. At one point, she grabs the mask off Khadka’s face and attempts to grab his phone off the dashboard.
Police also noted that Kimiai sprayed what they believe to be pepper spray in Khadka’s car before leaving.
Both Uber and Lyft have banned Kimiai in the aftermath of the incident.
In an Instagram video posted on March 10, three days after the episode, Kimiai defended her actions.
‘Everybody I know, 75 percent of the people I know, would have smacked the sh*t out of him or done some crazy off the wall sh*t,’ Kimiai said in the video. ‘All I did was take his mask off and cough a little bit but I don’t even have corona.’
Arna Kimiai turned herself into authorities on Sunday and has since posted bail. It was not immediately known when she would appear in court.
King will be transported back to San Francisco to face charges after she was arrested in Las Vegas last week for allegedly attempting to use a fake ID to illegally withdraw funds from a bank account.
