Joe Kassuba biography: 13 things about Sammamish man who took David Kangogo’s Lyft ride

Joseph “Joe” Michael Kassuba Jr. is a white man from Washington, United States. He is a former software engineer at Wilbur-Ellis, a specialty liquid chemical manufacturer, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA.

Kassuba was one of the Americans who made headlines while the U.S. was battling the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic due to refusal to wear a face mask and racist remarks caught on tape. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. He is married to Holly Kay Nelson Kassuba.
2. He and his wife are residents of Sammamish, Washington.
3. He previously lived in other areas of Washington including Kirkland, Duvall, Bothell, Richland, Kennewick, Issaquah, Redmond, Pasco and Woodinville.
4. He has also lived in Salome, Arizona, USA and Ortonville, Michigan, USA.
5. From 2005 to 2008, he was an account executive at EquiFirst Corporation.
6. In 2009, he co-founded Agile Nuclear Data Inc.
7. From 2012 to 2015, he was a software development engineer at the Microsoft Corporation and at Redcley Partners for Microsoft.
8. From 2015 to 2017, he was a senior software engineer at Apollo Video Technology.
9. He was 55 years when he encountered Kenyan comedian named David Kangogo.
10. On November 17, 2020, he was intoxicated when he and his wife took a Lyft ride home in Issaquah. During the ride, he took off his face mask so Kangogo, the Lyft driver, asked him to put it on. He refused to comply so the driver pulled over and cancelled the ride. After getting out of the vehicle, he repeatedly called the driver a “sand n****r.” Using her phone, his wife started filming and told him, “Joe stop, I’m videoing. Stop, stop. I’m videoing. You stop.”
11. On November 19, 2020, Lyft took to Twitter to announce that he was permanently banned from the ride sharing service.
12. On November 20, 2020, Wilbur-Ellis took to Twitter to announce his termination.
13. On November 21, 2020, he apologized to Kangogo through a statement, which he sent to journalist Jonathan Choe. He wrote, “I had too much to drink and lost control of my tongue and I said horrible things that I truly regret.”