The top Democrat in the Senate Chuck Schumer wants 4 senior point times officials to testify Guarino Donohue has been following the debate that working out exactly how to conduct the business tomorrow activity is pretty straightforward there will be debate from both sides will be a bunch of people who make their case and then there'll be a couple of votes at the end of it what they're arguing about is how long when and and who would set but Century because the Democrats of course have the control of the timetable they will get to set that timetable and we would expect some kind of vote late afternoon on Wednesday global so mid-term refugees is opened in Geneva with the u.n. Secretary general praising the generosity of poorer countries who host most of the world's refugees until now good terrorists that the international community must do more to share the responsibility for the 10s of millions of people forced to flee their homes world news from the b.b.c. . Syrian activists say that 14 civilians have been killed by government is trying sounder Tillery fire in the province of Idlib the last major region still held by opposition fighters on jihadists a Russian brokered cease fire has nominally been in place since August but skirmishes on bombardments are still an almost daily occurrence. China's 1st domestically built aircraft carrier has entered service following a commissioning ceremony attended by President Xi Jinping the Shandong will operate from the island province of high none in the South China Sea where China has competing maritime claims recent satellite images indicate Beijing is building a larger aircraft carrier part of President cheese military expansion plans hundreds of thousands of people have been demonstrating in cities across France against the government's plans for pension reform the latest demonstrations have been mainly peaceful but there have been scuffles in Paris where police have been trying to clear a central square and also in the city of Long. Scientists in Denmark have sequins the entire genetic code of a stone age woman or girl who lived more than 5000 years ago from a substance likened to ancient chewing gum this is the 1st time an entire human genome has been extracted from something other than bones dunny Aber hard reports it's a small black lump of old tar made from heating birch bark rather unappealing perhaps unless your scientist inside there were locked wonders preserved by it's a septic water repelling qualities of d.n.a. Snapshots not just of a stone age female but also what she'd probably eaten and the types of microbes and pathogens in her mouth the scientists say she'd most likely had dark skin dark brown hair and blue eyes genetically linked to hunter gatherer is a mainland Europe rather than those of central Scandinavia b.b.c. News. Well come back you are and this is your call on today's show the content we are discussing will not be appropriate for children and could be triggering for some of you every day in the United States over 8 people are assaulted during super and lift rides according to a new report released by roughly 6000 sexual assaults were reported between 2017 to 2018 there were also 9 murders and 58 people killed in crashes according to data 42 percent of those reporting sexual assault were drivers Now those figures do not include assaults that happens this year Lyft has yet to release any data 20 more women from across the u.s. Joined a lawsuit filed by the California based firm at c m Baumberger they allege that they were assaulted kidnapped or raped by lifts drivers at least 55 women have either joined or filed lawsuits against Left sense August later in the show we're going to be joined by 2 survivors Joining us now are 2 attorneys Michael Baumberger is co-founder of at sea and Baumberger Mike has spent more than 2 decades fighting for the rights of women who have survived sexual assault and is at the forefront of the new crisis on sexual assaults by lift and drivers Michael currently represents a number of survivors throughout the u.s. Who have been assaulted Mike says he receives about 3 calls a day from people who say they were assaulted by lift drivers Mike's practice has several offices in California he is based in San Diego and today he joins us in studio Hi Michael thank you for joining us good morning thank you for having me today it's great to have you and I should say we're joined by one lawyer and one victim's advocate Tamar Streeter is. Victim's advocate with at the end Baumberger Tamara takes phone calls from women who were assaulted and is with them throughout the entire process Tamara thank you so much for coming in and thank you Rose I really appreciate you having us in for this very important topic Well I preceded the work that you both do and I said she said say we reached out to her and left for comment did not respond to our requests lived sent us a statement which I will read later in the show. So let's just talk about what we're facing here I understand that you hear from women on a daily basis at your law firm Michel we hear from multiple women each day. It's it's not singular it's it's plural we probably get a call from $3.00 to $4.00 women a day wow when did that start I would say it started probably. 2 and a half years ago is when we got our 1st call and and then we started to get more and more calls and. My office some of that works for me put something on our website on a blog talking about right here safety and after they did that we the number of calls just exploded you know we get we've had hundreds of calls from drivers hundreds of calls from passengers ever since then. And Samara How long have you been taking calls from survivors sure so I was actually working for the Army I was a victim advocate and Mike reached out to me through Linked In and said you know my business could use somebody like you and I said What do you do and he explained that he was taking these these calls from women who have been sexually assaulted by a new birth left driver and I didn't even know at the time that was a problem would not have given it a 2nd thought and. And as I was working for the armies of well let me just give you a couple of cases you can just take some calls and after hours is how it started so I. The 1st call I got I remember was back in February 28th. Or 21000 right Ok and. And she would explain to me what had happened that she had been sexually assaulted by Had driver after he took her home he's our stumble on the stairs she went into her home and he was right behind her and sexually assaulted her on the kitchen floor and so from that point on I was like this can't be happening this has to stop so. So what turned up but it went from part time work quickly became full time work and I you know resigned from my position with the army and I've been doing the. It's full time for murder now since about April of this year and I can tell you we put in some time 6070 hour weeks with this job wow because you're getting so many calls we get the calls and then you go through the whole process I really do we follow up 100 percent what I love about this firm is that it could be from it could be from the initial It could be from the day or the morning of the assault and if they're close by I'm here in the San Francisco Bay area if they're close by and they need somebody to go to hospital with them I'll go with them and go through this arctic Sam the police reports and then all the follow and care we actually set people up for. For therapy we make sure they're into the right they're epis trauma informed there be and then we follow them throughout the case so from day one and till whenever I mean I'm sure even after we settle cases that these victims will continue to be our survivors at that point they will be can continue to be my friends or we will always be be supporting. What every story is different what really stands out for you. For me it's the level of trauma that every single one of these women experience and men. That the 2 things I would always I can always. Pull from them is that they are concerned for number one their safety and number one that the loss of control that they had that it was such such a feeling of power being taken care of taken away from them number one but also. The shock they did not expect this they've got somebody who is in a position of driving them home of keeping them safe and they are completely betrayed with that trust and they lose trust and so many other areas that are very like because of it. Michael what really strikes you about these cases and the stories that you hear. What strikes me the most is how the profound effect these assaults have on these women's lives it's hard to you know it's hard to to to think about them because their emotional e they're just so emotionally draining every time I sit in the presence of one of these women they talk about what happened and how it affected their life it's it's very very difficult to hear I mean I you know just yesterday morning I spoke with a young college student that was. Was raped in a vehicle and. You know she couldn't go back to school she couldn't get out of bed in the morning she stopped going to school she she tempted suicide. And you know it's you know it's now a year and a half after but everything about how she views the world has not changed and that's what happens to these women that that are assaulted it it's a it's a long long. The damages last a long time I think this is so important because I watched the video when you gave a press conference with is it 19 or 20 women it was 1900 women some 1000 women were so brave to tell their stories and some of them and they came forward and said I don't want this to happen again I want people to know that that in this case lift is not taking the proper action to protect passengers. And it's incredible to hear their stories but oftentimes you don't hear about what happens after most of the time you don't hear about anger and one of the important things to remember is that you know the numbers we know from the Liber report they're the tip of the iceberg only one in 3 women that sexually assaulted reports So whatever those numbers are in the report you can get a minimum of to play by 3. And it's very difficult for these women to come forward after. After this for a number of reasons and Tamar can talk more about that but the women that do come forward that have the courage to come forward. They're the women that are making a difference with these companies changing their policies and they're the they're the ones responsible for protecting other women from this happening again in the future it's you know the companies aren't making these changes on their own it's the women that come forward talk about what happened in them and how it's affected their lives that are that are creating. Hopefully a new platform that these companies operate under and. Each one of our clients that has come forward and talked about the Ems and and you can you know I think we're going hear from some later today that experience has been so cathartic and healing for them because it's all part of them regaining the power. That was taken away from them because so many of these women feel powerless and lost and alone ever since these incidents and it's. It's a very powerful experience for them and they're they're changing other people's lives and they are able to prevent this from happening to other people by coming forward and these are mean living in many states across the country all over the country. Have either of you been in touch with a lift because I have to say anytime we do a show about whether it's congestion or you know how it's affected the cab industry what have you they just refused to come on the show and they usually just send us a very generic statement there's nothing more I'd love than to sit down with the the C.E.O.'s of both of those companies and have them answer direct questions you know I read the the interview of the c.e.o. From Hoover after it came out from the report and. It was essentially a word salad you know he they asked him questions and I don't think he answered one question they asked a very direct questions and he didn't answer one question and it's you know it's all about if you're going to have transparency What is your what is your plan then. To go forward and I don't think he he gave any idea other than to say well we prioritize safety he didn't answer any direct questions about what happens to these victims after the assaults occur what happens to your drivers that are salted What do you do what do you do for them and he would answer any of those questions so there. They're taking the money from the passengers and they're making monies on each $1.00 of these rides. But they're not taking responsibility the New York Times had a piece about the sexual assaults and has hired Tony West who worked under the Department of Justice under the Obama administration and he is now chief legal officer and he said quote The numbers are jarring and hard to digest what it says is that Uber is a reflection of the society it serves. Then though that statement was troubling and on several levels it's not a reflection of the society it serves the platform the platform in the right ship platform of putting 2 strangers together in a car isolated that's something that created not. Not our society we've handled sexual assault cases for the past 20 years I've never gotten one call on a taxi case on someone on a bus and we've got hundreds and hundreds for rides your vehicles What is that what does that tell you it doesn't tell me it's a reflection of society what it tells me is that both of these companies know that there's a number of assaults that occur in their vehicles and that any just one is too many Now this is really interesting because a lot of people have been asking this question does this compare to taxis and what I've read and tell me if this is accurate that there is no nationwide data on sexual assaults Well this is against taxi drivers there's no data but what about taxi passengers I I'm not aware of any of any data and I know that one of the things that we were asked for in the report was to for other for other. Industries and companies to come forward with their data and I think that's a that's a great idea and if there's one thing I can say about this report I applaud Hoover for releasing this report because in order to would address a real problem I think the 1st thing you have to do is admit there is a problem which they which they've done in this report but you know these assaults did not have to happen there they have the technology to prevent them and they have not they have not used it. What would you add on this point just about how these companies are or are not responding to this Tamara So from a victim's perspective when he or she is attempting to contact the right share service and notify them of a sexual assault. Oftentimes they get that canned response they call it a robo response oftentimes. And they feel like. That their complaint is meaningless that they're not heard you know they're there bawling their eyes out letting somebody some stranger on the other end if they're actually able to get somebody on the other end of the phone to listen to their story and then to be told well thank you have a nice evening and they can they feel completely Revit demised and traumatized by the reporting piece of it itself and the one thing we know as victim advocates is that the 1st person. That a victim reports to is crucial to how they follow through with their reporting whether or not they're even to follow through and call police they're not given that option they're not offered any assistance when they when they call and then oftentimes they never hear from the right your company again and just just to repeat Michael you said that you have not received calls from anyone taking taxis never in 20 years. Ok so we're going to bring on a survivor in just a minute but can you just for people who are not familiar familiar with your friend left can you explain the process involved because when I get into a cab you have the person's name and id number and there's always a camera right above the red about the dash in it staring right at you at and so what happens when you call in over a lift well when you call him. Or lift you you are paired with the driver each of their platforms are a little bit different. The similarities are that you get in you get in a car with a driver that you you do not know and that driver supposed to take you to another location and as you know both companies emphasize and have advertised that that it's a safe form of transportation and what they additionally advertises in they actually. Have focused much of their marketing on people that are out drinking because one when you're out drinking you don't want to put other people at risk and . It's the safe thing to do is to take a ride here is to take some other form of transportation and again behind the wheel and unfortunately what happens is that many of the people especially women because they've been drinking are more vulnerable and the people that drive for both of these companies that are predators understand that vulnerability and those are the people that are often. Victims and to answer your question about what happens in in the vehicle is you know for lack of a better term it can be a crapshoot you know 99.9 percent of the rides are you get from point a to point b. Safely however there is and if you are a sexual predator there is an opportunity to exploit the fact that neither one of these companies have an active technology that can prevent these assaults. You mentioned having a camera in a taxicab. There are one of the things that we've been asking these companies to do for years put a camera some type of recording device in these vehicles. If a if a potential sexual predator knows that they're being watched you know clearly the likelihood that they're going to assault somebody is going to be exponentially lower so the companies rather than talk about what they can do for how they put people in touch with a hotline after an assault or rape why not try to prevent that in the 1st place instead of giving them a 911 button to press once a rape or assault occurs which. Of course doesn't make a lot of sense why not prevent that from happening in the 1st place and you know both of these are technology companies they have the ability to put a camera in and. I've. Gotten in right your vehicles in the past myself and oftentimes there is a camera and the driver will tell you look at I have a camera in here it's for my safety and for your safety makes perfect sense the driver's a putting them in for their own safety these are drivers who drive for these companies these companies truly cared about stopping sexual assaults and truly cared about the drivers and passengers in these cars this would have been a long time ago so right now the onus is on the driver the driver makes the decision exactly Michael Baumberger is founder of s.d. And Baumberger Mike has spent more than 2 decades fighting for the rights of women who have survived sexual assault and is at the forefront of the new crisis on assaults by lift and drivers are also joined today by Tamar a stranger she's a victim's advocate with s.t.m. Baumberger Tamara takes the phone calls from women who've been assaulted and as with them throughout the entire process now we're going to be joined by a survivor Caroline Miller is being represented by s.t.m. Baumberger 6 weeks ago Carolyn says she called the lift at 3 am because she had to work early and I'll ask Carolyn to tell her story Hi Carolyn thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me well thank you so much for telling your story and I just wonder Carolyn why did you decide to go public with your story. Generally I want to mention came out about you know a guy up anybody you know just happened to you it's not an interesting thing is I don't think. I want him to come out in. Our you and me. Being able to speak out about everything that well what is the response been since you've told your story. Well. You know the I'll get to that in a minute I just mean on general the public your friends your family and their part of me that's pretty much I mean you can't. Be anything except someone who comes out about their story you know not of their feelings and talk about it you know when I can make a difference my friend you know so Caroline you called the left at 3 am because you had to work early and would you mind sharing whatever details you're comfortable with sharing. Your house so I called left to get to go pick up my car because I work the next day like 3 early so I want to have my car we need because I live in cultures Bill and I have been drinking out of foreign Acworth So it's kind of harsh but it happened coming to last August obviously we're very tired of this time you know coming up drinking and you know being 3 am so excited when the looked at picked me up that I wanted to take a nap in the backseat till we got there which is going to be like a 2530 minute drive. Show when I had local I woke up to. Traverse and. Nationally down there and telling me I'm taking you to I shall get in shape do you want to go to a tell you said I'm taking you to a hotel the 1st thing I thought of was oh my God I don't have anything to protect myself this guy is a lot bigger than me I need to find a way you know take not get kidnapped. And I told him you know Ok you know acted nice I feel like I was complying because I knew that if I tried to physically find him I wasn't going to win and I can jump out of a moving vehicle so. I told him I was like oh you know I just need to get my inhaler out of my car still and. He went along with luckily and I was texting my boyfriend at this time telling him what was going on where we were going because I couldn't physically call the police you know explain and find this guy what was going on without something dangerous happening so. Right when we had pull up to my car for me to get my nail or I got in and locked the doors and exited on the same time that the cops had arrived and then they ended up arresting him on stage. And what happened after that so I guess later he still you know yeah right. I was I wanted on my car because I was so shaken up. And up I don't try and I haven't come pick me up so few days later I realized. My money was still missing I'm again counted out a lot right now is like thinking Ok well that means it doesn't even have any idea what happened which I thought was completely ridiculous and they weren't even alerted about their driver doing something like that and being arrested and on what charges he was arrested on. So I know giving them a call or 2 or 3 days after and saying I'm you know hey explaining the situation explaining everything that happened explaining that I would like to have my money back. And they never said a sorry they kind of. Explain the situation of them and the boarding response from then. I don't know so I get my money back but I didn't ever get a sorry I did. You know the customer service agent never sent me a someone higher in the company they never sent me an email they didn't do anything they didn't try to reach out to me at all wow how are you doing today and I'm all right. Right. What's hard to talk about sometimes. And I mean again thank you for sharing your story thank you for joining us what changes would you like to see from these companies on the receive them. Well sir something to caring about your customers to begin with because they think there's no way as a business do you think of all the races 2nd happen you know with your employees people always think bowling that gave my employee be someone dangerous but they don't care now think about that you don't put the proper safety measures in their cars they don't do an extensive background check. They don't do in person interviews really and I think all of that would make a big difference when starting off and knowing who your employees are caring about what kind of people you have working for your company and representing your name and then to go in with the safety measures in the car is like putting in camera you know because I mean obviously a criminal is going to do something on camera. Generally analysts are completely insane to think that these things happened to me and other women or 110 percent voidable I think the most frustrating part about it all is knowing that lived doesn't even care about their customers like that or what happened to them possibly is care about the money that they're getting and Estella that's obvious in so many ways and also feel like since they have been a loss he has been brought more to them already and they had made changes in things that happened to me and other women. They just find it easier and cheaper to pay all these lawsuits then she even takes anything let's just. Say r. And Carolyn before we let you go what message would you send to people who take lift and Guber I mean at all hours of the day really but especially late at night I know it's a huge. Convenience for a lot of people you know. They live in a busy city so it's easiest route to get from point a to point b. To those people I would say just be safe make sure that. The car matches the description that's on your. Child to be on the phone with someone and during your entire write record. And just let people know who you're in the car with what their name is and just use many such safety precautions because you never know what's going to happen with these people who Caroline again thank you so much for sharing your story with us and thank you for joining us thank you for having me and letting me talk about it for sure thank you take care. Thank you thank you that is Caroline Miller she is being represented in the lawsuit by s.d. And Baumberger and you can find more about Carolyn story and the other women who are involved in this lawsuit at your call Radio dot. Coming up after a break we will continue speaking with Michael Baumberger co-founder of Sdn Baumberger who spent more than 2 decades fighting for the rights of women who have survived sexual assaults and Tamra Streeter a victim advocate with f.c. And Baumberger she receives a regular phone calls from women who were assaulted during their lift and rides and we should say that it's not just passengers it's also drivers and we will talk about drivers after a break this is your call will be back after this. Your call is prerecorded we're not taking calls this morning however we welcome your feedback or email is your call at. Org our Web site is your call radio dot org or Twitter handle is your call radio tomorrow's show may be preempted Kildall be we'll be carrying the impeachment debates on the floor of the House of Representatives starting at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning the state of American education will be the subject on one. Right after your call one half hour from now here on 91.7. San Francisco 'd. This is your call I'm Rosa today we are talking about a topic that is not appropriate for children and might be triggering for some of you we're talking about sexual assault and rape that happens during and left riots and it's not always the passengers it's also drivers and today we are joined by Michael Baumberger co-founder of s.d. And Baumberger Michael has spent more than 2 decades fighting for the rights of women who've survived sexual assaults he currently represents a number of survivors who have been assaulted and are suing left he also gets calls from drivers Tamara Streeter is a victim's advocate with s.t.m. Baumberger Tamara takes calls from women on a daily basis have been assaulted and she is with them throughout the entire process and now I would like to welcome another survivor to the show Jane wrote to is identified in the lawsuit filed by s.t.m. Baumberger against left she has been asked to be anonymous for this interview Hi Jane thank you so much for joining us. Can I ask you before you share your story why you decided to go public and share and. Sure you really this is such a long and I really hope that pushed. Into to fix every the only way they're going to do it to people and. That is to do it. I'm really just helping everybody you know every victim comes out in the field a little to make a change well I just want to say thank you so much for sharing thank you for joining us and if you wouldn't mind would you share whatever details you feel comfortable with Sure yes I would say I don't know being in February for an age when I understand my business meaning just going up you know in a quaint Well I think you know to you out of the ordinary but what else again and having a couple of drinks and I knock somebody who will drive so I call him a lift to the seating and wide choice. To do you. So I ended up getting left my car we're very had dinner and knew it would be Ok to get it the next morning and the boat fishing again 20 minutes away how I got into but. Rico eco on about 30 seconds down the road the man who was driving. Me that I will quit. And at that point I just you know are tired very nervous and anxious and really easy by our stood out there look don't pay can get out home no big deal you know it gradually over are you tired of my head down. The driveway are fine you know 3 quarters of a way I got out he came to the exit and now when I showed him reaching hand acting actually. I. Didn't think it was real but I you know think Christian history and often he did it again. I would go a little bit you know like I had to add my head back to my and close so I did again you know like a Christian the way and then the 3rd guy I turned and he had proceeded to a rigid hand back again and called me with the book in hand. Rather correctly and quickly and I just froze for granted vehicle. And I didn't know it to you. And panic. Like I was at the mercy of drugged me and he was you know violating me and you know what was going to come next really just fear for my life. And I are now. Out of my son and I could you know wait on stuff going to have a group that who the victim or who would go during the thing I decided to fight back and we had an altercation to the point where he dragged me out of the car and. Trying to fight. It everything that I could and at one point I was holding on to the side of the evil and he slammed right in which Frank driver's door and go off and garden with car. Finally was able to really didn't he get within a little I would. Very dark road nothing to tell the caption. Actually I think she would only as well. And he had my help on my laptop my bag everything he threw it out of the vehicle and proceeded to buy no purple people and I know we can hear. It you know you can be how did that point and you get the courage to go up 2 hours and then I had never been to before. I don't know who any of your do are but thankfully a woman did and she called the police and they took me to the police station where I clean my statement. So you know yeah it was very very generic learning thing that I would ever think would happen can the body and if it. Be that it will fit after me can anybody. Truly interact and where. I never really thought I would have to worry about like this again how are you doing today and. I'm Ok you know why she. Died when I went mostly for the house you know your area and I gave. It a go guilty verdict for the man and he's going to jail time so I feel bad at least one part of their somewhat taken care of but he could actually going to be but it worried all the time I have panic anxiety. And I think a bow. What if I. Didn't But if I just come back I'll call you know what if and safer option then. You know if you really carry something like you'll get a. Light try to. Drive I'm thinking that literally think about it all that mon. What response have you received if any from left. On. Aid So what happened was. At night went to the police station they gave me 8 men they located at me and I believe the day after in the back and questioning and yeah pointedly where they were contacted by the police department. But I have never heard any thing to call retrieve anything from them and I knew in my gut they were not going to be helpful at all because you have to think about it someone calling incurred. Awful thing happened to me rushing it under the rug anyway so I kind of cried. In my head like Pete would it be covered up so I want to make sure I have a fully involved very dark but never never any response What advice do you give people who take rides now from lift and especially when it's late at night I. Don't exactly. I think call it actually get. There you know. Condition between the driver and. The ride. And you know if you're going to go in to a list or who are just understand you're where. You know I don't want to just single out one when it happened to be there we are the ones that are being victimized time and time again and even if the little thing if you don't have your heart on you well up a dollar bill I know the film is really crazy but well the dollar bill for which you know when and when you can let me. Be cared. You know if you're in a car you don't have the listings or you probably don't have on you or. You know you might your phone in your pocketbook you can't get to an album or panic button will make sure you do your due diligence and something that. You know. Before we let you go John are you getting any help or therapy I was just thinking about you know how expensive that can be and I'm guessing it does not have to come out of your own pocket oh yeah I think they're being you know thankfully. You know I can't afford to do that because they're element out there that can. Deal with it not a boat element in it something. Even if I feel like I'm Ok One day I wish my Ok though. Well you know we're just. Almost playing. Pick up on it but if you're. Wondering what's going to come next. And you know the back and. I was out a doctor's appointment. If you know of a car. Ok. Well thank you so much for sharing your story and thank you for joining us you know I was talking with Michael earlier about the long term effects this have and then I was just thinking it might be interesting to check in with you and maybe a couple other women in a couple months just to find out you know how you're doing and where we are with this issue if you don't mind yet. You know I can tell you from what. You know why you know I think might make you a little bit. You know I. Say you know what I think Oh. He's got an awful thing weighing on you and I. You know what I don't think. It would help you know where people go through a lot Well thank you again for sharing your story and thank you so much for joining us and I think so much Jane wrote to is identified in the lawsuit filed by s.d. And Baumberger against left and she has asked to be anonymous for this interview. Michael and Tamar I mean her story is horrific she thought she was going to be killed. And I think Tamar can and can address this very well you know in the what strikes me as so many of these women say the same thing is that that they thought that they were going to be dead and it's a it's a life or death experience and when they are going through those if you just sit here and magine to yourself that you think your life is over it's going to and you have a child and you're no longer going to be here anymore it can be a very you know it's terrifying and they're you know their responses. Are a lot of the same responses that you have when you're when you're in the wild when there's for survival many women freeze which is you know their way of trying to play dead some women fight and fight for their life and those you know those seconds minutes or whatever the amount of time is. Those moments of terror you never. The Bears are with you for the remainder of your life. And that's very true what he's talking about the tonic immobility. That is just our now our body's response of survival instinct I need to stay alive in this moment and oftentimes it's surprising even to me is that the level of trauma is is pretty much the same when you look at the fact that oftentimes they are trapped inside that vehicle so there is a person in control in the front seat who has. Ill intentions for them and they know that already based on on some predictors he's already put out and so they are already feeling trapped either they're going down the road at 70 miles an hour on a freeway or the doors have been locked and disabled and they're unable to open them or they're frozen and they don't know what to do they're thinking if I just stay still I'm going to survive this and you know with one client we had she was locked in the back of a car for like 5 hours 5 hours 5 hours and rate during this process and really felt like she was not going to survive this. You know they they they turn around and they will do things like are like the 1st victim talked about which was they will play along they will try to get them to convince them that they're on their side all I need is my inhaler all I need is to get this or get that or yes I'll go with you but can we stop right here and I'll get some. And that's when they make their run for it. But but it's that level of trauma that's going to stay with them forever because you know I don't know if you've ever had anything bad happen to you but I mean I can remember you know being 6 or 7 years old and some older man grabbing me and kissing me on the face and I can still tell you the smell of his breath and the feel of those wet lips touching mine and that was 50 years ago and I can still remember that so I know that this trauma stays with you the difference that we try to make with these women and you know this is why I'm so proud of working for this firm is that we have 4 victim advocates that work for our firm and every single one of us is just committed to the healing of these victims to survivors and this firm goes out of their way to ensure that you know we're finding a rape crisis center for them we're finding therapy for them that we are ensuring that every step of the way that they feel supported and held by this team and I think every one of them would say that you know I get that feedback from them and they just they just love you know what Mike is able to do for them as well as for just taking care of them through this process. But but at the end of the day we really are working through this trauma with them understanding it never goes away but we're going to get them through it I have to say hearing you talk about a woman who was trapped for 5 years just made my 1st 5 hours 5 years that my chest is tight just hearing this how is she doing today. She's had a couple of suicide. It's been really really difficult for her and you know we have weekly sometimes daily phone conversations. You know through medication management with her doctor and you know just kind of dealing with the trauma and you know understanding that it's affecting every single area of her life she's been unable to work. She's. Been in and out of the hospital. She's basically agoraphobic won't leave her home without her husband he has to be on her side every moment and this is a woman I share her story because she actually was somebody who spoke out in our original lawsuit so I just want to clarify that that that she is somebody who has already spoken out and told her story and she's very brave and she was you know just. Just one of the person that really touches me and I just feel like whatever we need to do to help her and get her through this you know again is something that . I think we all feel strongly about is you know we're looking we're looking to help these people but to stop this problem. Tamara Streeter is a victim's advocate with a law firm s.d. And Baumberger where she takes phone calls every single day from women who've been assaulted writing and left and she's with them throughout the entire process Michael Baumberger is co-founder of s.t.m. Baumberger and has spent more than 2 decades fighting for the right. It's of women and Michael says I just want to make sure I have this right you get about 3 phone calls a day on average you know it can be one phone call day it could be I thought also you know it did varies but we get we get it you know I don't I can't remember the last time we have not gotten a call and mean not only phone calls e-mails we get we have contacted by people constantly hey you know it makes me so angry about all of it. I just think about this 5 hour ride if there was a camera and now every time I turn on because I watch videos on my computer on youtube every time I watch a You Tube video there's an uber ad saying we just installed these emergency button can you tell us about these emergency buttons you know. The emergency we followed a lawsuit against lived in in September and there was a press conference and there was a lot of information in the news about Roger safety and both these companies were tripping over themselves to talk about how safe they were in their new safety features and one of their safety features that they rolled out shortly after that was the panic buttons and these you can be connected to 911. If you're being assaulted and you know it all sounded good but you know just a mess let's just think about this is 2nd you're in a car. You may have been drinking you may not have been but you're in the back seat you're dozing off you wake up drivers on top of you and and you are going to now say Ok can you hold on a 2nd stop the assault while I operate my phone and you know use the panic button or the 911 it's absurd and. The you know the changes that these companies have. Proffered in the name of safety are you know they're they're cheap that rather than try to offer a meeting why not try to prevent the woman from being assaulted in the 1st place you know we know the trauma of that that begins once the assault begins do you think even assuming a woman's able to stop an assault after 4 or 5 minutes with the panic button do you think that woman's life isn't going to be changed or relationships are going to be changed her you know she's not going to press she's going to be profoundly affected and you know what we're asking these companies to do rather than talk about being a reflection of society. Take basic steps to be able to prevent these assaults to be able to prevent these women's lives from being ruined because the the the consequences are. Very serious and we are almost out of time the list statement is basically just the last few months we've launched 15 new stay for safety features criminal background monitoring an app emergency assistance but like you said this is ridiculous because if you're being assaulted What if you forgot your phone what if it falls out on the sidewalk I mean all kinds of things happen what changes would you like to see the 2 most important changes that I think both of these companies can do is number one put a recording device digital recording device in the cars they have the technology they've had it for years there are a technology company it's so easy on each and every phone has it it could easily be attached to the front of the vehicle a lot of drivers do it already that's number one number 2. Mandatory reporting when you find out that. A predator has such Lee assaulted and a predator that you have hired that's on your platform that striving people of public around when you find out there's a predator criminal has assaulted somebody report that to the police and. If you don't report it to the police what's the message you're sending to the driver number one and what's the message you're sending to the passenger that we don't care and what is the and what are the consequences of allowing somebody that's already sexually assaulted somebody to continue driving you know women alone in isolated circumstances it's it. Everyone knows that predators they don't it's not one time it's multiple times and that's why we have cases where these people have done it multiple times you know and if these companies you know there's a reason why there's minatory reporting because it works it helps prevent further assault and helps prevent further crime helps prevent further pain in people's lives it's an easy it's an easy thing to do it sends the right message to the to the drivers it sends a message the buzzers Well we're going to have you back because the other thing that makes me so angry is why didn't politicians implement these regulations from the beginning but a recent report from the National Employment Law Project found that and lift have more lobbyists than Amazon Microsoft and Wal-Mart combined So this goes straight to the companies but it also goes straight to politicians who failed to regulate these companies and according to this report they've got major lobbying efforts in 41 state legislatures and many local governments to basically prevent any kind of let regulation Michael Baumberger is co-founder of s.t. And Baumberger he has fought for the rights of women who've survived sexual assaults for more than 2 decades Tamara Streeter is a victim's advocate with s.t.m. Baumberger she takes calls from women who have been assaulted and she's with them throughout the entire process again Michael says he has never received a call from someone who was assaulted by a taxi driver but every single day he's receiving calls from women who are salted by uber and left drivers and we'd love to also have you back to talk about how the drivers have been assaulted so I just want to thank you so much for your work thank you really for all that you do and we'd love to have you back thank you very much for having us thank you thanks to Leah says ring for producing today's show and Kevin Vance our studio engineer thank you for joining us you can find more information at your call radio dot org. 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Hello I'm Jeff Haden host of your legal rights Wednesday and our last broadcast the 2019 your legal rights looks at the changing criminal law paradigm as we move for mass incarceration towards education treatment and the specialty courts that guide the implementation of these treatment regimen my guests will include Emmy Award nominated legal and political analyst Dan Johnson and Judge Mark fork I'm best of all we take your calls and answer your questions that's your legal rights Wednesday night at 7 o'clock right here on Calle w 91.7 f.m. In San Francisco or online at k l w dot org a readers are leaders and learners are earners but by that standard America's kids will lead and earn less than their peers around the world from w.a.m. You and n.p.r. In Washington this is one. Kid there I'm Joshua Johnson today I want to say who's leading in reading if a parent prevented their kid from learning to read properly you might consider that child abuse no wonder so many are appalled that the u.s. Continues to lag behind others in a worldwide assessment of basic skills the test. Shows a few demographics are doing Ok but many groups are doing worse Fortunately there are efforts to close the gaps including showing parents how to help their children succeed we'll take a closer look at the problem and some possible solutions and we'd love to hear from you so comment on our Facebook page or tweet us at one egg. With Simone Marie Pope Francis has announced further measures to tackle the sexual abuse of children by priests and church officials and ing the rule of pontifical secrecy in such cases the move was a key demand of a church summit which argued that it was preventing cooperation with civilian authorities from room here's Mark Lowen pontifical secrecy has long been in effect a kind of code of silence protecting issues related to the governing of the church almost 20 years it's been used and extended to matters of clerical sex abuse the idea behind it was to protect the identities of victims and the reputation of those accused but it has been criticized for enabling sex abuse and discouraging victims of it from actually reporting it so what Pope Francis has done today is he has abolished the use of it the Supreme Court in Poland said a bill which would make it easier for the government to remove judges is that an infringement of treaties and could eventually lead to the country leaving the European Union the court also said it believes the bill was designed to allow President Andy Duda to choose its new had before presidential elections expected in May Adam Eastern reports from Warsaw the European Commission would likely start legal action against Poland if the proposals are enacted the Supreme Court said the court has already ruled that the National Council of the judiciary is no longer independent since Loren just began appointing its members in nearly 2018 under the proposals judges who question the legitimacy of their peers selected by the new council could face a 5 or even dismissal the Republican leader in the u.s. Senate Mitch McConnell has indicated his opposition to request that witnesses because to give evidence in any m.p. .