Lawsuit: Uber driver seriously injured pedestrian in 2018 downtown Charleston crash

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - A lawsuit filed in Charleston Monday says an Uber driver seriously injured a pedestrian in a downtown Charleston crash in 2018.

Jeffrey Gaetke is suing Uber saying the driver of the car was working as a driver for the company at the time of the crash, which happened on February 16, 2018.

The lawsuit states that the Uber driver was driving a Honda while Gaetke was walking in a crosswalk on Meeting Street in downtown Charleston. He claims the driver made a left turn from Horlbeck Alley onto Meeting Street and crashed into him.

Among the injuries Gaetke details in the lawsuit include a dislocated right shoulder, an operation with three screws placed into his arm, a broken right arm and he allegedly lost consciousness at the scene of the crash.

The lawsuit claims the driver, a Goose Creek man, was driving too fast for conditions and was reckless and negligent in operating his car.

Gaetke is asking for actual and punitive damages and also claim his medical bills may reach upward of $80,000.

The lawsuit is the second filed in Charleston County since the beginning of 2019 against the rideshare company. The estate of a Mount Pleasant woman killed in a 2017 auto-pedestrian crash also claimed an Uber driver was behind the wheel.