(COPENHAGEN, Denmark) — One of the Americans detained for nearly two weeks in Denmark over an alleged assault against an Uber driver while visiting Copenhagen on their college spring break said he was “shocked” that he and his friend were arrested and maintained that they are innocent.
“We were both just very shocked about the fact that we were being arrested over this incident,” Owen Ray told “Good Morning America” on Monday, hours after he and his friend were freed. “We had done nothing wrong,” Ray added.
Ray, a 19-year-old studying at Miami University in Ohio, and his unnamed friend were detained at Copenhagen Airport on April 1 over an alleged dispute with an Uber driver the night prior, Jordan Finfer, a U.S.-based attorney for Ray’s family, told ABC News. Local police detained them while they were heading home after deeming them “flight risks,” claiming they were planning to run from the incident, he said.
In an account relayed to Finfer, who then shared the details with ABC News, Ray said he and his friend realized they had entered the wrong address for their destination — and the Uber driver allegedly refused to take them anywhere else.
Ray said they decided to cancel their Uber and left the vehicle. Then, after they walked a few blocks, the Uber driver pulled up, got out of the car and “started yelling at us, thinking he hadn’t been paid for the Uber, but in fact, he had been paid for the Uber,” Ray said.
“He then got in our faces and was saying, ‘I’m gonna call 10 guys,'” Ray said.
“We said, ‘We’ve done nothing wrong. We’ve done nothing wrong.’ He then started an altercation with us,” Ray said.
“The safety of everyone who uses the Uber app is a top priority, and we take reports of violence very seriously,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News on Sunday. “Any additional questions about the investigation should be directed to the Danish police,” the statement added.
Copenhagen police said the two students were charged with common assault.
Following his arrest, Ray said he thought he would be able to explain to a judge what happened and be released.
“But then we went to the judge, and we were actually told that we would be imprisoned in a Danish prison for 10 days,” he said.
Ray said he wasn’t able to make a phone call for 36 hours after his arrest and didn’t know if his parents even knew where he was.
“I was initially very worried about making sure that I could get into contact,” he said.
He said he was able to text his mother from a phone at court, and she ended up flying to Denmark.
“I was very relieved to have heard that she was able to do that, and thankful that she was able to,” Ray said. “I’m very thankful to my family and everyone else who’s been supporting me throughout this situation.”
Ray said it also helped that he and his friend had each other while detained.
“We read books, we played cards, we played chess and luckily we were able to get through it in a good mental state,” he said.
Their initial 10-day, pre-trial detention amid the investigation into the incident was subsequently extended until April 24, a Copenhagen police spokesperson told ABC News.
Ray said his Danish attorney filed an appeal last week, and the judge ruled in their favor on Monday, releasing them.
The teen said Danish authorities have their passports and they have to check in with police daily until they get an update on the case. He said he believes they are waiting for either the investigating authorities to drop the case or for a trial date to be set.
Ray said he and his friend are in a good mental state, and that he plans to maintain a positive attitude about the ordeal while hoping for it to be resolved soon.
“I just hope that Denmark and the legal authorities here are able to — and the U.S. government can help us and do what they can to help us be released by Easter, so I can be home with my family,” Ray said.
“I think the best case would be for the Danish police and the prosecutor to drop the case at this point, because we’re completely innocent, and for them to return us our passports and allow us to head back to the United States,” he said.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday that they are “aware of media reports of two U.S. citizens detained in Denmark. Staff at our embassy in Copenhagen are providing consular assistance.”
“The Department has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens abroad,” the statement continued. “Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.”
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