A Lyft driver savagely attacked his rideshare passenger outside San Francisco International Airport (SFO) after concluding he was Jewish or Israeli.
Charge: Lyft Driver Attacked Passenger At SFO After Concluding He Was Jewish
The attack happened on October 26, 2023. Csaba John Csukás, 39, the (now former) Lyft driver pulled up to SFO for a passenger pick-up. When the victim appeared, Csukás perceived he was Jewish and asked him, very bluntly, if he was.
Csukás allegedly made clear that he would not transport an Israeli or Jewish person. It is not clear if an argument ensued at that point, but he then stepped out of the car and purportedly attacked the victim by striking him in the face with his fist.
The victim, a San Jose, CA resident, was transported to the hospital and treated for minor injuries. He pressed charges against Csukás.
Just this week, on March 13, 2024, Csukás made his initial appearance in court:
Csukás made his initial appearance today and is charged with committing a federal hate crime which prohibits, among other things, causing bodily injury because of the actual or perceived religion or national origin of a person in circumstances affecting interstate commerce.
Csukás faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the hate crime charge.
Lyft has confirmed the driver is no longer working for Lyft:
“Lyft unequivocally condemns anti-semitism and all other forms of discrimination on the basis of religion or country of origin.”
The attack even drew a comment from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland:
“The defendant, a rideshare driver, is charged with assaulting a rider because he thought the rider was Jewish or Israeli,” Garland said. “No one in this country should live in fear because of how they worship or where they come from. The Justice Department will aggressively prosecute those who perpetrate hate-fueled violence motivated by antisemitism or by bias of any kind.”
Csukás had quite a social presence online on Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn, but has scrubbed all his accounts.
CONCLUSION
It’s one thing to condemn the war in Gaza and the loss of life that has resulted…it’s quite another thing to attack someone in another country based upon a perceived common trait. I maintain deep reservations with the concept of hate crimes, but motive matters…and to attack someone because they are Jewish (or Christian or Muslim or atheist) represents gross intolerance a free society cannot tolerate.
image: pulled from YouTube cache // Hat Tip: View From The Wing
Was the passenger an Israeli reservist? If so, the Lyft driver could claim he was conducting a special military operation.
Eh, just drive the man. Or if you are going to use a bad reason like that to transport him, just drive off, don’t make it worse by getting out and hitting the guy.
If you support Hamas you should have your life destroyed.
And yes, if you attack Israel for defending itself from a group of literal vermin you are supporting Hamas. There are no “both sides” in this conflict. There is Israel and a group of savages that killed women and children willingly on Oct. 7.
Agreed. But, in this case, it’s not even about that – you can’t go asking someone if he’s Jewish (or whatever), and then just punch them. It’s not legal or moral.
History didn’t begin on Oct 7th.
Correct. Hamas has been wanting to eliminate Israel for a long time.
Nah, Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians began long before Hamas was ever formed. And the killing, land grabs, and raping of Palestinians in the West Bank has gone on for ages long before Oct 7th too.
yup. the arabs started murdering jews in the 1920s, just for being jews. and the antisemitic lies certainly have been circulating longer than there has been an israel. but it makes me wonder what YOU would do if someone fired 10,000 rockets at you, from over the border, or killed, raped and kidnapped a few thousand people at a music festival.
“the arabs started murdering jews in the 1920s”
Nah, those were riots where both Jews and Palestinians were killed, in almost equal numbers.
“YOU would do if someone fired 10,000 rockets at you, from over the border, or killed, raped and kidnapped a few thousand people”
You mean what the Israeli government has been doing to Palestinians for the last few decades? Plus in addition to the settler violence which includes murdering Palestinians and/or stealing their lands…
Aaron is brainwashed. Palestine is an imaginary country. Palestine has also been offered 6 different peace plans over the last 100 years, but walked away.
There are no “both sides” but multiple sides. Andys view is like a foreigner saying in 2018 “you are either non-American or pro-Trump”.
Hamas does not equal Gaza. Hamas is only the politics that control Gaza much like Americans are not MAGA by definition but Americans.
Israel refuses to recognize Palestine’s right to exist (just like Hamas refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist)
Israel refuses to financially compensate Arab run off their land in 1948 and were forced to flee to Gaza.
Hamas does equal gaza. The people there enthusiastically voted for them and continue to view and support them.
There is no palestine or palestinians. Only Arab squatters on Jewish land.
Gaza doesn’t have elections. Hamas took over.
Good thing Andys is not the government spokesperson for Israel, for he would prove by his statements that Israel is a terrorist nation. For now, only some, like Andys, spew extremist views. Putin is like Andys, claiming Ukraine. Xi is like Andys, claiming Taiwan.
The legitimate Israel is the 1948 borders. The 1967 borders are aggressive. The Netanyahu claim is terrorism.
“There is no palestine or palestinians. Only Arab squatters on Jewish land.”
Only idiots think that.
Have the Arabs recompensated the Jews exiled from Arab countries?
Do your job! You chose to be a driver, drive the passenger. No need to talk to him and ask him anything personal. Many years ago in MN, Somali taxi drivers would ask airport passengers if they were carrying alcohol from duty free with them and if they thought they had alcohol they would refuse to drive them. When they were threatened to lose their taxi licenses they never asked again. Do your job and mind your own business.
BTW, since we are talking about ride share, this is how you fight stupid socialists. It is a free economy, nobody is forced to drive to Uber or Lyft. When disgusting City Council gets involved, this is how you respond to it. No Uber and no Lyft. Go walk!!
https://www.reuters.com/technology/uber-lyft-stop-operations-minneapolis-over-minimum-wage-law-2024-03-15/
Minneapolis is a dump. Not shocking they elected Miss Hamas to Congress.
Let the city die.
Bad enough Santastico is there, but having an Arab and Muslim hating genocide loving turd like you there would make things even worse.
Walk loser! My wife is Arabic/Lebanese. Idiot.
Prove it.
Wow. Had no idea about this, and I was going to go to Minneapolis (got cancelled last minute). Glad I didn’t.
Capitalist shill strikes again.
Move to Russia. You will like it there.
I doubt it. They don’t tolerate sodomites there.
@AndyS
What an even more stupid thing to say.
What a stupid thing to say. As if that is the only binary choice out there.
I wouldn’t say you’ve been drinking the oligarch’s koolaid, but you’re bathing in it at this point.
Look at the stuff you’re writing. The vast majority is just nasty denigration of people who don’t happen to agree with you. I’ve seen your informed and relevant comments and frankly think you’re better than this. I’ve read some amazing insightful comments of yours that truly impress.
You usually support very strong punishments for criminals, so I find it a bit odd that you question hate crime laws. I generally find opponents to hate crime statutes to be people who actually object to equal rights for all. I’m certainly not implying that’s how you feel at all, I know it isn’t, it’s just an interesting position to take.
I suspect that the guy didn’t attack the passenger out of sympathy for Gazans. Since he scrubbed all of his social media that implies that there’s a lot of hateful content that would just worsen his attempts at staying out of prison.
Unfortunately, the Jewish people are forever going to be hated and the Gaza war is making it worse.
Not guilty. Next time spare the rush to judgment.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/lyft-driver-who-punched-jewish-rider-acquitted-of-hate-crime
Not guilty does not mean innocent…
Actually, under our Constitution, it absolutley does. Maybe think about that before you put someone on blast and post his photo all over your website before he’s had his day in court in front of a jury (perhaps its a good time to take this guy’s photo down off your website so he can get on with his life?). When someone gets charged, the public only a very very one-sided version of things. That’s why we have juries.
You fail to understand our constitutional system.
Being found “not guilty” doesn’t necessarily mean you are innocent. Instead, it means that the evidence was not strong enough for a guilty verdict.
It’s a good system. But don’t confuse the two.
No, I don’t fail to understand thanks. Hence — *under our Constitution* — you are in innocent until proven otherwise. i would assume the jury got to hear from the passenger during the trial. if the whole jury didn’t believe what s/he had to say, seems there must have been a good reason.
ROTFL. 5th and 6th Amendments or any other part of the Bill of Rights most certainly do not use that phrase.
The driver was just acquitted on all charges. Turns out he wasn’t antiemetic at all – he and the passenger got into an argument after the passenger called the driver a racial slur. All law enforcement had was the passenger’s ‘version.” I’ll bet he scrubbed his SM bc people were blasting him after reading articles like this one. Bloomberg reported on the trial/ verdict.
Wow. I guess the Supreme Court has had been interpreting the Constitution wrong for hundreds of years now. Maybe you should let them know.
Maybe you should read what the Constitution actually says…wow, how’s that for a concept?
Cached versions of his social media demonstrated deplorable hate. He was an anti-semetic scumbag but his attorney was able to tell a more convincing story to a foolish jury. So he was found not guilty. That’s the way our system works. I hope he is deported.