'I felt like we were being kidnapped' San Francisco couple says Uber driver wouldn't let them out of SUV

SAN FRANCISCO -- A San Francisco couple says an Uber driver refused to let them out of the car on the way to the airport this month.

Brian Resler and his wife said they felt like they "were being kidnapped" after the Dec. 8 incident.

The couple was returning home to the Bay Area from a trip to Disneyland. Their original flight to John Wayne Airport in Orange County got diverted from San Francisco to Oakland because of weather, so they left their car at Oakland Airport.

Since their return flight was still to SFO, Alaska Airlines offered to order them an Uber back to their car at Oakland airport.

Resler said Alaska Airlines entered a generic Oakland destination in the Uber app, instead of the airport, and the driver didn't seem to understand.

"That's when he started yelling at us and said that we were trying to trick him and that we were stealing from him, and that's when all of a sudden, we had been stopped in the middle of the road, he peeled out and hopped onto the entrance ramp to the highway," Resler said.

Refusing to let him and his wife out of the SUV at the Oakland Airport, Resler said the Uber driver got on a nearby freeway.

"We started getting a little more panicked," Resler said. "We're begging and pleading him to just stop, just let us off anywhere. We'll call another car, we'll figure out a way there. We offered to give him cash to let us out of the car, and he just continued to yell at us, and so finally I called 911."

The Uber driver eventually got off the freeway, where Oakland Police met them. Resler said police spoke to him and his wife, as well as the Uber driver.

From there, Resler and his wife ordered a Lyft to Oakland Airport.

Frustrated with what he felt was an insufficient response from Uber on the matter, Resler contacted our sister station KGO-TV.

The station reached out to Uber on Wednesday, which said the driver no longer works for Uber:

In a statment, Uber said: "What's been described is disturbing, and we have removed the driver's access to the app. We stand ready to support law enforcement with their investigation."