
Uber says it will be making “every effort to make every driver’s story as open and accurate as possible” in the wake of the death of a 20-year-old driver in Seattle.
The ride-hailing company said in a statement to NBC News that the incident “did not rise to the level of a tragedy” and it was “deeply saddened” by the loss of one of its employees.
The driver, identified by the Seattle Times as Kyle Hill, had been with Uber since the summer and was the company’s third driver killed in Seattle in less than a month.
Uber said it is “actively cooperating” with the investigation, which is also looking into what happened to Hill.
It added that the company is “working with law enforcement to determine the facts and to gather information to support its investigation.”
Uber, which operates in Seattle, Los Angeles and other cities across the U.S., says it has hired more than 20,000 drivers in the last year.
The company also said in the statement that it has already provided “a substantial amount of funding” to the family of the driver.
Uber says it also will donate the driver’s funeral expenses to local charities.
The Seattle Times reports that Hill was a student at the University of Washington, and he had worked as a driver since September, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He had been a driver for Uber since July.
The Times says he was last seen at a Seattle bar on Friday night.