Mexican officials have issued an arrest warrant for the taxi drivers involved in beating a Chula Vista man and his friends for apparently using an Uber by the U.S.-Mexico Border.
On Friday night, Eric Ibarra, a Chula Vista resident, went to a San Diego Padres game with four friends. After the game, he went with them to Tijuana to stay at a friend's place.
Once the group crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, they ordered an Uber.
That's where the trouble started.
Ibarra told NBC 7 that taxi drivers in the area started to surround them, telling them they were in a taxi zone.
“My friends told them, 'no thanks, we already ordered Uber,'” Ibarra said. “At the beginning, there was just five to seven drivers, and then I turned my head to the left and I start seeing more taxi drivers coming out from the parking [lot].”
When he turned his back, he recalled, he was "totally knocked out.”
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The taxi drivers attacked the group, leaving them bloodied on the street.
“I can't even breathe,” Ibarra said. His nose is broken in three places, and he suffered a dislocated and broken shoulder. “I have to breathe through my mouth. And my arms hurt a lot.”
Another friend needed 10 stitches, and others had bruises and black eyes.
Ibarra told NBC 7 he believes the taxi drivers attacked them because they were using Uber.
The Chula Vista resident explained that he crosses the border about once a week, but he has never had a problem before. He definitely did not plan on spending his Fourth of July weekend in the hospital.
Ibarra is an architect, he said, and will have to miss at least a month of work because of the injuries he suffered. He will also need several surgeries and physical therapy sessions as part of his recovery.
Following the attack, Mexican Government officials and Tijuana Mayor Manuel Gastelum announced that authorities will set up an operation down at the border, near El Chaparral, where taxis usually operate. The goal of the operation is to protect citizens, and to stop taxi drivers from violating laws.
Taxi drivers will not be allowed to operate in that zone anymore, Mexican police said on Facebook.
At the time of the attack, Gastelum announced on Facebook, four yellow taxi drivers were detained for harassing riders in incidents similar to what happened to Ibarra, though none of those men were involved in his incident.
Authorities have issued search warrants for the men involved in the attack.
Authorities have not returned NBC's request for comment on the status of Ibarra's case.
