Queens man looking for answers after violent attack by DoorDash driver
ASTORIA, Queens (WABC) -- A man in Queens is calling out a popular food delivery service after he says he was unexpectedly assaulted by an employee during a delivery several months ago.
More than eight weeks after it happened, Michael Garcia no longer has a cast, but it will be a while longer before he's able to walk normally again after his leg was mangled in the attack by a man working for DoorDash.
"It was broken in two places, both the fibula and the tibia, so on both sides and I was in a cast for 8 weeks," Garcia said.
Garcia was at home in Astoria back in May when he ordered some food from the home delivery service.
"About an hour later, the delivery driver called me and he says 'Hey, I've got your food, come out and get it'," Garcia said.
The request seemed odd since the service has delivered directly to Garcia's door several times in the past, but the driver was insistent so he went out to get the food.
That's when he saw the driver was still in his vehicle, but exited it quickly with another man right behind him.
"He punches me in the head, right in the face, and not long after that I pretty much went down," Garcia said. "They were both kicking me and finally after they were finished, one of the guys stomped on my ankle and it broke in two places."
Garcia eventually called the police and the driver, 32-year-old Barry Smith, was arrested and charged with assault that same day.
Mr. Garcia is suing DoorDash for not properly vetting employees.
"We don't know what kind of training he had, we don't know what kind of supervision he had, we don't know what kind of instruction he had and we don't know what kind of background checks DoorDash actually does to vet their employees," attorney Robert J. Berkowitz said.
Mr. Garcia says he won't be using DoorDash again.
Eyewitness News reached out to DoorDash earlier on Thursday for comment, but did not hear back.
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