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Benjamin Golden: Taco Bell Exec Caught On Video Beating Up Uber Driver Now Suing Driver For $5 Million, Claims Victim ‘Ruined His Life’

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 02:02 PST, Jan 16, 2016

Benjamin Golden was caught on video beating up an Uber driver in a drunken fit of rage, but now the former Taco Bell executive is actually trying to sue the victim for $5 million, claiming the video ruined his lie.

The incident took place in November, caught on video and shared by the Uber driver himself. The video went viral, and in the ensuing coverage, Golden also lost his job as a marketing executive at Taco Bell.

Now, it has taken an even more bizarre turn. Golden filed court papers claiming that driver Edward Caban illegally recorded the incident, and actually said that the driver was responsible for his own injuries.

Golden’s lawyer, Courtney Pilchman, said she will seek to have the video dismissed in Golden’s criminal trial, saying it was illegally made. Pilchman also attacked Caban, who filed his own lawsuit against Golden claiming that the incident left him with post-traumatic stress disorder. Pilchman called the Uber driver “quite the opportunist.”

This is an abrupt change from previous statements, CNBC noted. Pilchman originally said that Benjamin Golden was “extremely remorseful” for the attack and wanted to “sincerely apologize” to the 23-year-old Uber driver.

Video of the attack went viral last year, showing the 32-year-old Golden growing angry after the driver cut the ride short. Golden was seen intoxicated and could not communicate his destination, then grew angry when Edward Caban did not know where to go.

When Caban pulled the car over in a shopping center, Golden refused to leave.

“Get out of my car or I will call the police,” Caban said (via CNBC).

At that point, Golden grew enraged, grabbing Caban by the hair and slamming his head into the car window several times.

Caban, who uploaded the YouTube video of the attack, described the attack.

“I grabbed the pepper spray from my center console and put it under my right thigh and flipped my camera around…as [I] always do when my spidey senses start tingling…We went back and fourth a bit before I told him if he [didn’t] get out [I] would call the police. At which point he opened his door and began beating me over the head. I fumbled with the safety on the pepper spray while trying to protect my face with my other arm, I broke free from him grabbing me by the hair on the back of my head, and sprayed his face until he got out of the car, at which point [I] left the vehicle.”

Benjamin Golden is now claiming that the Uber driver violated California law by making a video recording without his consent. He is also suing other parties for sharing the video on YouTube, where it has been viewed more than 2 million times.

But Caban’s lawyer noted that the abrupt change in tone from Golden’s earlier statements.

“It just tells me how disingenuous Golden was on his apology tour,” said Rivers Morrell III, Caban’s lawyer. “What’s he want to apologize for if everything was the fault of Edward?”

Golden, who was fired from his executive job at Taco Bell after the incident, claims that because of the video, he “has suffered severe emotional distress, humiliation, anxiety, fear, pain and suffering and the loss of his job.”

Benjamin Golden is now also trying to lay blame for Edward Caban’s injuries on the Uber driver himself. In the court filing, Golden claimed that any injuries were caused by the “negligence, fault or carelessness” of Caban himself.

[Image via YouTube]

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