Picture this: a hungry customer orders food from their favorite spot on Uber Eats. If their food is delivered hot and fast, customers sometimes graciously tip the delivery driver and give them a five-star rating. For one Florida Uber Eats driver, allegedly nothing– and we mean nothing— came between him and his driver’s rating — not even his special needs son coming up missing.
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It was after 11:00 p.m. on Oct. 16 when an Altamonte Springs police officer responded to a call of an unattended child who was standing on the on-ramp of Interstate 4, according to Law & Crime. An officer said he observed the juvenile, who appeared to be nonverbal and to have autism, “running naked down the westbound” ramp.
Fox News reported the child had been rescued by Good Samaritans before venturing into the busy highway traffic.
Not long after, emergency dispatchers received a call about a missing child that matched the boy’s description. His father, identified as Uber Eats driver Jeremy Jaron Rouse, had just picked up an order from Wawa and was driving to the delivery destination when he noticed his son was no longer in the backseat.
Instead of returning to Wawa, an affidavit says he “continued toward Winter Park to complete his delivery.” Why? Because he admittedly didn’t want his delivery rating to go down, local news station WESH 2 reported.
The boy’s mother, per the outlet, was making deliveries with Rouse and was the one who called 911 looking for the boy. The pair agreed to meet the officer and the child at Walgreens, but only the woman showed up because Rouse reportedly “feared being arrested due to the incident.”
News 6 reported Rouse also delayed the meeting by one hour.
The mom reportedly told investigators she fell asleep around 9:30 that night and woke up hours later to an unusally quiet car. That’s when she “realized that [the boy] was missing from his seat.” Rouse, according to the woman, “appeared shocked” when he was asked where the boy was and “had no idea the juvenile was missing” while delivery food.
Now, court documents reveal the 35-year-old father has been hit with felony charges — one count of cruelty toward a child by child abuse without great bodily harm and perjury for making a false affidavit in official proceedings. He plead not guilty and was released on $5,000 bond.
His arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 2.
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