Chicago native among 2 students jailed in Denmark after Uber dispute, family says
Future unclear for Chicago student released from Denmark jail
A college student from Chicago who was being held in a Denmark jail after an alleged dispute with an Uber driver has been released, his family said.
CHICAGO - UPDATE: Owen Ray was released from jail, his parents say. Here is the latest.
Two college students — including a Chicago native — are currently being held in a Denmark jail following an alleged dispute with an Uber driver, according to family members.
What we know:
The family of 20-year-old Owen Ray said he has been behind bars in Denmark for two weeks.
His mother, Sara Buchen-Ray, told FOX 32 Chicago on Sunday that Owen had been studying abroad and was visiting Copenhagen during spring break.
She said her son entered the wrong address in the Uber app and asked to get out of the vehicle. What happened next, she said, quickly escalated.
"Uber driver said they were going to call the police. My son said, 'call the police, we've done nothing wrong.' He said that five or six times… At that point, the Uber driver got angry, kicked in between the legs, he fell down to the ground. They were able to get away. They went back to the hotel. They had flights to leave that next morning, so they cleaned up at the hotel, they went to their flights because their flights were very early in the morning, the flights were booked way in advance and they were arrested at the gate," Buchen-Ray said.
What's next:
Owen and the other student were assigned a government-appointed attorney in Denmark. He can legally be detained through the end of the month.
We'll bring more updates to this story as they become available.