A girl charged with homicide after capturing her Uber driver within the head mistakenly believed she was being kidnapped and brought to Mexico, police say.

Phoebe Copas, who’s from Kentucky, was travelling to El Paso, Texas, to see her boyfriend when she noticed indicators for Juarez.

The Mexican metropolis is positioned simply throughout the US border from El Paso – with the 2 cities related by bridges throughout the Rio Grande.

Believing she was being kidnapped, Copas, 48, is accused of grabbing a handgun from her purse and capturing her Uber driver, Daniel Piedra Garcia, within the head.

The automotive crashed shortly after and Mr Piedra was rushed to hospital.

The 52-year-old was placed on life assist for a number of days, however it was turned off after his household was instructed by docs that he wouldn’t recuperate.

According to a police witness assertion, the world the place the automotive crashed was “not in close proximity of a bridge, port of entry or other area with immediate access to travel into Mexico”.

“The investigation does not support that a kidnapping took place or that Mr Piedra was veering from Copas’ destination,” police mentioned in an announcement.

Copas, who’s from Tompkinsville, Kentucky, has been charged with homicide over the 12 June incident.

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Court information didn’t checklist a lawyer who may converse for Copas. She stays in custody in El Paso.

Mr Piedra’s niece, Didi Lopez, paid tribute to her uncle, who she described as a “hardworking man” and “really funny”.

“He was never in a bad mood. He was always the one that, if he saw you in a bad mood, he’d come over and try to lift you up,” she instructed the El Paso Times.