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Man Claims Philly Uber Driver Knocked Him Out, Left, Charged Him $9

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A knock out and beat down, Joseph Fusco says, came at the hands of an Uber driver who didn't want to drive him from Philadelphia to Cherry Hill.

" I'm in shock. I have blood all over me and I'm not really sure how I'm on the ground," Fusco said. "Knowing I was going out, I was depending on that for a ride back to my house."

On December 22, he went to a holiday party with co-workers at Cavanaugh's in University City. At 11:00 p.m., he called it a night and arranged for an Uber driver to meet him at Market Street.

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Per Uber standards, Fusco put his destination in the ride request, but the driver didn't find out until the passenger was in the car. The driver, whose identity we are concealing pending possible charges, told Fusco that he wasn't going to New Jersey and when he argued, things got violent.

Fusco said the driver "opened up my door and grabbed me by the collar and ripped me out of the vehicle and the next thing I know, I'm unconscious."

Penn Police, who took the report, showed Fusco surveillance video.

"Your head's on the street and you can visibly see the person stomp you and then repetitively kick you and then walk back to his vehicle with no regard," Fusco says he was told by police.

Nicole Fusco got a text that night that her husband was on the way to the hospital. She immediately dropped off their newborn baby to go see him.

"It was hard to see," Nicole said. "It was just blood everywhere on his face. I didn't know exactly what his injuries were because there was so much blood."

Fusco suffered a broken nose, broken cheek bone and lost his front teeth and adding insult to injury, the driver charged him $9.

On Thursday, his attorney filed a complaint in federal court saying Uber shares a responsibility for the attack and that's it's negligent in screening drivers and fraudulently promises a safe ride.

"Uber is marketing toward college students, people who are leaving sporting events, people who have consumed alcohol and those people are vulnerable," said Fusco's attorney. "If they're intoxicated, they're expecting a safe ride home."

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"I'm lucky I got to go home. I'm lucky I got to see my son. I'm lucky I get to see my wife. It could have ended real bad," Fusco said.

Penn Police will not comment on the active investigation and denied our request to see the video of the attack. An Uber spokeswoman told Eyewitness News "no comment," as well, but did say the driver was kicked out of Uber the day after the incident.

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