After Uber driver’s killing, NC lawmakers target rideshare safety gaps
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- A Durham lawmaker plans to file a bill next session for mandatory rideshare reporting.
- The bill would provide incentives to require in-vehicle camera recording.
- Gbedee’s family filed a civil lawsuit this year against Uber Technologies and Rasier.
A state lawmaker is pursuing a change to rideshare safety laws after a Durham Uber driver last year was shot and killed in his car.
Rep. Zack Hawkins, a Durham Democrat, said he plans to file a bill in next year’s session that would mandate reporting of criminal incidents during rides and provide incentives for requiring camera recording inside the vehicle.
Emmanuel Kwame Gbedee, a 57-year-old Uber driver, was found fatally shot in the back seat of his car in Johnston County in January 2025.
Tray’vian Tre’vel Brown of Dunn was arrested days later and charged with first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon. His charges were temporarily dismissed in September 2025 after a judge ruled that he could not stand trial because of “mental illness or defect,” The News & Observer previously reported.
Gbedee’s family also filed a civil lawsuit this year against Uber Technologies and Rasier, its subsidiary, alleging that the company failed to protect drivers from dangerous riders.
Hawkins on Tuesday said at a press conference that Gbedee’s “loss is a painful reminder that gun violence continues to impact families and communities across our state.”
“Rideshare drivers across North Carolina and across the country face growing safety risks every single day while they transport passengers,” he said. “No one should have to risk their life simply for going to work.”
Imani Maatuka, the lead attorney on the civil case, gave a statement on behalf of Gbedee’s family. Some immediate family members were at the press conference.
“When we lost him, we lost the center of our world. The grief does not come in waves. It is constant,” Maatuka said. “It lives in the empty chair at the dinner table, in the silence where his voice used to be, in every moment we reach for him and remember he is gone. Our family will never be the same. And nothing will bring him back to us.”
Bill specifics
Hawkins said North Carolina has plenty of opportunities to improve rideshare safety. He said the rideshare companies’ mandatory reporting on incidents like “deaths, sexual assaults, robberies,” could “ensure that that type of data was collected from rideshare agencies.”
He added that an incentive for rideshare companies to require recording what goes on inside the vehicle would also create a safer ride because the footage can be reviewed by the rideshare companies for video evidence.
Hawkins said discussions for the future legislation must include families of victims, drivers, law enforcement and groups that are involved with highway safety and transportation because “it’s not something I believe that we can do in isolation.”
“No matter what state you go in the country, someone is taking rideshare, and so there has to be enough data from around the country to make sure that we’re doing what’s right,” he told The N&O.
A few other Democratic lawmakers — Sen. Natalie Murdock and Reps. Marcia Morey and Tracy Clark — spoke at the press conference about other gun violence-related issues, including domestic violence incidents and mass shootings.
Clark said that the House Democratic Caucus last session introduced 12 gun safety bills, many of which were never heard.
Hawkins said the context of rideshare safety “will allow us to really move forward on it again, and it’s something we haven’t revisited for a while.”
“It is incredibly common sense, and it’s something that, if we do not do something about it, millions of North Carolinians and visitors to North Carolina will get in rideshare, and we can’t guarantee their safety,” he said.
