Uber guard slams demonstrator protesting company's deactivation policy to ground

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - A protest at the front doors of Uber's headquarters in San Francisco turns violent when a man is thrown to the ground after trying to enter the building lobby.

The video, shot on Market Street at the front doors of Uber's headquarters, shows Thom Hoffman trying to enter the lobby being pulled down from behind and thrown down to the ground.

Hoffman says the sudden violence came without provocation or warning. "I had seen that others were approaching the doors. So, I approached the last door on the left, and opened the door and started in when I was approached by one of the guards and taken down to the ground at that point," said Hoffman. He said there was no warning,  "he just came right at me."

Hoffman  was just one of about a dozen or so protesters who showed up at Uber's San Francisco headquarters to protest Uber's deactivation policy.

Deactivation is when drivers are effectively cut off from the company. Some say the process can be arbitrary and unfair. "A buck of drivers, over a thousand of us that it happened to, we were deactivated, and they couldn't figure out what was the glitch. It was a glitch. And we were out of commission for up to three weeks," said Uber driver Eleisha Redmond.

Protesters had a signed petition opposing the policy and say they tried to bring that petition into the lobby of the building, that's when Hoffman says he was thrown to the ground.

In the long term Hoffman says he'd like to see drivers treated differently. For now he's weighing what he will do about the scuffle. "I haven't called the police, yet. I'm planning on going to the hospital and getting checked out to make sure I'm ok first, and them I'm probably going to file some charges," said Hoffman.

This afternoon Uber emailed a statement to KTVU.

"We are very concerned by the video. Our security policy is to ensure the safety of those in and around our facilities, and we will not tolerate any actions that are not in line with that policy. The individual in question has been placed on administrative leave effective immediately by our third-party vendor while the matter is being investigated," said Uber's Director of Physical Security, Carla Gray.