California’s Malaysia King arrested in Las Vegas, accused of pepper-spraying Uber driver Subhakar Khadka

Malaysia King, 24, of Antioch, Contra Costa County, California, United States has been arrested. The African-American woman was charged with assault with a caustic chemical, assault and battery, conspiracy and violation of health and safety code.

At around 12:45 p.m. on March 7, 2021, Nepalese Uber driver Subhakar Khadka, 32, of San Francisco, California picked up King, Persian-American woman Arna Kimiai, 24, of Los Angeles, California and another woman on San Bruno Avenue in San Francisco. The driver decided to cancel the ride because not all of the passengers complied with Uber’s rider policy to wear a facemask.

King, Kimiai and the other passenger refused to leave Khadka’s vehicle so he decided to bring them back to San Bruno Avenue. While on the way, the passengers were not wearing seatbelts and one had opened a car door so the driver stopped the car again, which led to a confrontation.

The women berated Khadka using profanities. While recording the incident with her cellphone, Kimiai coughed on the driver, grabbed his cellphone from the center dash area and ripped off the facemask he was wearing.

“Luckily, my camera worked,” Khadka told NBC News. “It recorded audio. It recorded a video of the whole scene and my point was you need to wear a mask. You need to close the door. I’m going to drop you off from my pick up point from where I picked you up.”

Eventually, Khadka was able to take his cellphone back and King, Kimiai and the other passenger exited the car. King allegedly reached into an open window and sprayed what is believed to be pepper spray into the vehicle and towards the driver before fleeing the scene with the other two passengers.

On March 11, 2021, Las Vegas Police Department officers apprehended King in Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA. Meanwhile, Kimiai said through legal counsel that she intended to turn herself in soon.

Khadka moved from Nepal to the U.S. in 2012. He has been driving for Uber since August 2018.

Before moving to Antioch, King has lived in other parts of the California including Oakland, San Pablo, Emeryville and Berkeley. As a fugitive from another state, she is being held without bail in Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas.

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