{"id":11225,"date":"2026-04-23T10:11:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T10:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/chicago-uber-driver-says-routine-delivery-turned-into-drug-discovery-then-account-blocked-fox-32-chicago\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T10:11:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T10:11:00","slug":"chicago-uber-driver-says-routine-delivery-turned-into-drug-discovery-then-account-blocked-fox-32-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/chicago-uber-driver-says-routine-delivery-turned-into-drug-discovery-then-account-blocked-fox-32-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Uber driver says routine delivery turned into drug discovery, then account blocked &#8211; FOX 32 Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Share<br \/>A Chicago rideshare driver says a routine package delivery turned into a frightening ordeal when she realized the item in her car contained drugs.<br \/><span class=\"dateline\"><strong>CHICAGO<\/strong> &#8211; <\/span>What started as a routine delivery on the city&#x2019;s Northwest Side quickly escalated into a police investigation and a personal crisis for a veteran rideshare driver who says she unknowingly transported a package containing drugs.<br \/>What we know:<br \/>Rosa, who says she has completed nearly 5,000 rides since 2019, including long-distance deliveries as far as Wisconsin, told investigators this was the first time she had ever encountered anything like it.<br \/>&quot;It was just a normal pickup,&quot; Rosa said. &quot;They didn&#x2019;t care what it was. I just put it in the back seat and started driving.&quot;<br \/>According to Rosa, the pickup happened April 16 after 5 p.m. near Mulligan and Diversey. She says she was on a phone call when she rolled her windows up &#x2014; then immediately noticed a strong odor coming from the package.<br \/>&quot;That&#x2019;s when I realized something wasn&#x2019;t right,&quot; she said. &quot;It was reeking bad.&quot;<br \/>Rosa says she originally believed she was transporting a package that appeared to contain gym shoes. But after police responded, officials say the box contained suspected narcotics, including marijuana and a pill, along with other items now part of the investigation.<br \/>Chicago Police confirmed officers recovered the package at the scene. No injuries were reported. Area Five Detectives are now handling the case.<br \/>Rosa says the situation escalated further mid-trip when she noticed the delivery instructions were changing.<br \/>&quot;The person started telling me to take it somewhere else,&quot; she said. &quot;And they were tracking my movement in the app.&quot;<br \/>She says she attempted to use Uber&#x2019;s in-app safety feature during the incident but received no response.<br \/>&quot;I pressed the safety button&#x2014;nothing happened,&quot; Rosa said. &quot;So I called police.&quot;<br \/>What&#8217;s next:<br \/>After the incident, Rosa was taken to the hospital as a precaution. Medical staff later determined she had not been exposed to any harmful substances.<br \/>But what happened next is what she says shocked her most.<br \/>Despite reporting the incident and cooperating with police, Rosa says her Uber account&#x2014;previously rated at 4.9&#x2014;was blocked. She also says she was told her account is now under investigation.<br \/>&quot;They have everything,&quot; she said. &quot;The police report, the recordings, everything. And I still can&#x2019;t drive.&quot;<br \/>Rosa says she relied on the platform for daily income.<br \/>&quot;That was my everyday thing&#x2014;gas, food, everything,&quot; she said. &quot;Now I&#x2019;m just stuck wondering what to do next.&quot;<br \/>Rosa says her account is restored with conditions. She must get her breaks fixed, oil changed, and make sure her car is fully up-to-date and then she can do Uber Eats and delivery.&#xA0;<br \/>Rosa said this was not required before this incident.<br \/>An Uber spokesperson said:<br \/><i>&quot;We&#x2019;re alarmed by this report. Any use of the Uber platform for illegal activity is strictly prohibited, and the rider has been banned from the platform. We&#x2019;ll assist police however we can in their investigation.&quot;<\/i><br \/><i>Here is more information, on background. Feel free to use in summary (not for direct quote):&#xA0;<\/i><br \/>The Chicago Police Department&apos;s investigation remains ongoing. Uber does have strict rules<a href=\"https:\/\/help.uber.com\/en\/driving-and-delivering\/article\/items-prohibited-from-courier-delivery?nodeId=c78692a6-e20a-4f3d-a35b-6b100cb4c01c&amp;utm=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> according to their site for Uber Courier deliveries.<\/a> They will investigate based on their handbook and will cooperate with police.<br \/><b data-v-4fbf7207>The Source:<\/b> This story contains reporting from Fox Chicago&#8217;s Tia Ewing.<br \/>All the morning news in under five minutes.<br \/>By clicking Sign Up, I confirm<br data-v-95910ab4>that I have read and agree<br data-v-95910ab4>to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox.com\/privacy-policy\" target=\"_blank\" data-v-95910ab4>Privacy Policy<\/a> <br data-v-95910ab4>and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxlocal.com\/terms-of-use\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" data-v-95910ab4>Terms of Service<\/a>.<br \/>This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. \u00a92026 FOX Television Stations<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.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?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ShareA Chicago rideshare driver says a routine package delivery turned into a frightening ordeal when she realized the item in her car contained drugs.CHICAGO &#8211; What started as a routine delivery on the city&#x2019;s Northwest Side quickly escalated into a police investigation and a personal crisis for a veteran rideshare driver who says she unknowingly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}