Attorney general’s stepdaughter held over disputed taxi fare

Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Monday, Dec. 7, 2015. AP Photo

NEW YORK, United States—U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s stepdaughter was briefly detained at a police station after an argument with an Uber taxi driver over an unpaid fare, police said Monday.

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Kia Absalom, 21, was riding in the car on Dec. 28. She believed her fare was automatically paid through the Uber ride-hailing app, as is the practice with most of the cars available on Uber, police said.

But the driver was signed up for the UberT service, through which riders can pay with cash or credit cards but not through the app.

“I asked her to pay me,” taxi driver Hassan Almaweri told the Daily News. “She said, ‘No, I paid by the app.'”

The two argued over the fare, and he drove her to a Brooklyn police station.

After it was determined she owed him about $20, she said she had no cash or credit cards on her, police said. She was detained for about a half-hour in a cell while her boyfriend came to pay the fare, they said. After she paid, she was released, and police said her arrest number was voided.

She was not fingerprinted or booked, police said.

Messages left with the attorney general’s office and Absalom weren’t immediately returned Monday. San Francisco-based Uber declined to comment.

Police said they were reviewing what happened.