Uber exec is out after violating rider’s privacy

A top Uber executive has been fired after obtaining medical records of a female passenger who was raped during a ride in India, Recode reports.

The Uber executive at the center of the report, Eric Alexander, served as the company’s president of business in Asia Pacific.

The incident involves a 26-year-old female passenger who was assaulted and raped during a ride in Delhi in late 2014. The violent crime resulted in the immediate ban of the Uber service in Delhi; the ban was lifted several months later. The driver was arrested and later sentenced to life in prison.

Though the company was publicly remorseful at the time, saying in a statement that it would “work with the community, with government and the technology industry to find more ways to promote safety in transportation, particularly for women,” Alexander was meanwhile reportedly on his way to India seeking the medical records of the victim in an effort to come to his own conclusions.

Alexander later shared the records with CEO Travis Kalanick and SVP Emil Michael, according to the report. The executives reportedly began to discuss the idea that Uber competitor Ola was behind the incident in an effort to damage the company’s operations in the country.

The report further notes:

Some Uber staffers who were told about the medical report by them were disturbed to hear the executives were considering the scenario, based on their reading of the medical report, that the woman’s story was not true.

“Travis never should have looked at the report and he should have fired him immediately,” said one executive of Alexander.

Alexander is no longer with the company, an Uber spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch.

It’s unclear the exact timing of Alexander’s firing. Claims involving the incident with Alexander were among those involved in the recent independent Uber investigation into reports surrounding sexual harassment and other workplace malpractice, which resulted in the firing of 20 employees.