Dalton is accused of shooting people at three locations across the Kalamazoo area the evening of February 20, in between picking up passengers as an Uber driver.
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Jason Dalton, a former driver for the ride-sharing company, told officials he is not behind a recently filed federal lawsuit that blames Uber for his imprisonment, Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas told TIME.
“I worked years as a Uber contractor and they ripped me off, never paid me back wages or overtime”, Dalton said in the complaint, which is dated March 11.
“It was not from him”, Matyas said.
“I’m now in prison because of Uber”, the fake complaint said.
“Uber treats their drivers like crap”, Dalton wrote. “My life is ruined because of Uber”.
However, the postmark on the envelope in which it was sent reads Philadelphia, but the mail out of the Kalamazoo jail where Dalton is housed is sorted in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Matyas said.
Matyas said the envelope is not from the sheriff department and a comparison shows that the handwritten complaint sent to the court was not written by Dalton. He says the jailed Dalton denied filing the lawsuit. “He acted on his own and not at my suggestion”.
“There was no reason for us to believe it was a hoax or non-hoax”, he said. “He didn’t send it, he didn’t authorize it and he doesn’t know who did, either”. “Our hearts go out to the victims’ families who have to live with the consequences of his bad crimes”. Cummings made his comments Thursday during Congress’ third hearing on the city’s water crisis.
Dalton has been charged with murder and attempted murder in the shootings, which took place outside an apartment complex, a Cracker Barrel restaurant and a auto dealership in Kalamazoo. He was driving for Uber, a ride share company.
According to documents police released Monday, Dalton told investigators that when he opened the Uber app, “a devil head popped up on his screen and when he pressed the button on the app, that is when all the problems started”.
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Earlier this month, a judge ordered Dalton to undergo a mental competency exam.
