U.S. students held for two weeks in Denmark following dispute with Uber driver

Owen Ray in an undated picture with his mother, Sara Buchen-Ray. (Ray Family via CNN Newsource)

Two U.S. college students were arrested and detained for two weeks in Denmark after an alleged altercation with an Uber driver, local police said Tuesday.

The young men are now prevented from leaving the country until a court hearing on charges of common assault in Copenhagen on April 24, officials said.

The alleged incident took place around 2 a.m. on March 31 (8 p.m. ET on March 30) after Owen Ray and a friend were returning from a night out in the Danish capital at the end of a spring break in Europe.

Ray and his friend, who has not been named, had ordered an Uber to return to their hotel but realized they had selected the wrong destination, according to family spokesperson Erin Pelton. Unable to update the location in the Uber app, they canceled the ride.

The canceled fare was automatically paid via the app, said Pelton. The driver, however, did not believe he had been paid and allegedly began threatening the students.

Speaking to ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Ray said that the driver got out of the car and started yelling that he hadn’t been paid, threatening to “call 10 guys.” Ray added, “We did nothing wrong — we were the victims of an attack.”

The incident was captured on the Uber driver’s dash cam, which is now part of the court case in Denmark, Pelton told CNN.

Ray and his friend returned to their hotel and prepared for their scheduled departure from Denmark. However, on March 31, police say they were arrested at the airport as they attempted to leave the country.

Copenhagen police told CNN that the students were brought before a court on the same day, facing charges of common assault.

The students were held for 10 days in pre-trial detention in a Danish prison. “There were two of us in a pretty small jail cell, in bunk beds. We spent 23 hours a day in the cell. We had one hour a day of yard time, and were allowed to make one phone call a week,” Ray said.

On Monday, the young men were released from prison. According to the Copenhagen Police, they are still charged and are not allowed to leave to leave Denmark. Their passports have now been confiscated and they are now required to report daily to police in Denmark until their court hearing on April 24.

Originally from Chicago, Ray is a student at Miami University in Ohio. He is hopeful that he will be able to return home by May. “I’m just going to try and have a positive attitude and hope that they can resolve the case,” Ray told ABC.

His parents, Andy Ray and Sara Buchen-Ray, maintain that the alleged assault was unprovoked and claim the two young men “suffered at the hands of an Uber driver.”

Speaking to CNN affiliate WBBM, Sara recalled receiving a text message from a foreign number on March 31. “Mom, I’m in prison in Copenhagen,” it read.

In a statement, Owen’s parents expressed concern about how the case has been handled. “We remain deeply concerned that Danish authorities have confiscated his passport and will not allow him to return to the United States — something we understand is unusual in Danish court proceedings,” they said.

“We are relieved that Owen has been released from a Danish prison following the unprovoked assault he and his friend suffered at the hands of an Uber driver on March 31,” they said.

“The facts make clear that Owen is the victim in this case, and we urge Danish officials to allow him to return home to the United States without delay,” Ray’s parents added.

The students’ Danish attorney, Eigil Strand, called the case a “misunderstanding.”

“Owen Ray and his friend were simply in Copenhagen to have a good time,” Strand told CNN.

“They were both very shocked by their arrest, especially as they were about to board a plane back home.” He added that the situation appears to have escalated when the driver misunderstood how he would be compensated for the canceled ride and later reported the students to the police.

Uber told CNN that the driver reported that the two students started fighting in the back of the car and later assaulted him after the trip had ended. The driver subsequently called the authorities. A company spokesperson said in a statement, “The safety of everyone who uses the Uber app is a top priority, and we take reports of violence very seriously.”

The company confirmed the ride had been paid for and said it is cooperating with Danish authorities in the ongoing investigation.

Staff at the US embassy in Copenhagen are providing consular assistance to the two students, according to the US State Department. “The Department has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens abroad,” a spokesperson told CNN.

By Lisa Klaassen, CNN