LACROSSE, Wis. – A Uber driver reported being choked twice by a passenger, once at 70 mph on Interstate 90, on a trip from the LaCrosse bar district to suburban Onalaska. In Onalaska, the Uber driver told police, the man threatened to kill him: “If you call the cops or do anything stupid I’ll kill you.” Police found the man inside a Kwik Trip convenience store in Onalaska. Police said the man denied any assault, but apparently there was a witness — a second passenger. The assailant, police said, was highly intoxicated and was arrested. This, according to the Uber driver, is what happened:
> The driver picked up two men at a downtown bar for a trip to Onalaska.
> One man became argumentative on the way.
> Despite the driver trying to calm the man, his hostility surged.
> As the vehicle entered Interstate 90, the man placed both hands around the driver’s neck, this at 70 mph.
> The vehicle nearly swerved off the road.
> The msn released his neck hold as the driver regained control.
> At the Kwik Trip, on Highway 16, the man again grabbed the driver by the neck and choked him again with a warning not to call police.