A former ride-hailing service driver sexually assaulted a highly intoxicated woman put into his car by Tustin police following a drunken driving collision, a prosecutor told jurors Monday, but the defendant’s attorney said the two engaged in consensual conduct.
Amir Attia, 51, of Tustin, is charged with two counts of sexual penetration of an intoxicated victim.
The victim testified she started drinking with co-workers after clocking out at her job at a Tustin bowling alley July 22, 2018, She started with an apple cider beer and then downed a few shots of Fireball whiskey before continuing to drink at a nearby restaurant, she said.
The alleged victim, now 33, said she felt “happy, fun, laughing with co-workers.” She testified she had been drinking two to three times a week at the time and smoking marijuana three or four times a week.
“I had a great time so I thought I felt fine” to drive, she testified. She added that she regrets that decision now.
As she was attempting to drive home she lost control of her car and crashed into a newly planted tree in a center median and Tustin police were called, she said.
She felt “scared, dizzy,” when officers arrived. Her then-boyfriend also came to the scene, she said.
Her blood-alcohol level was later measured at 0.241 and 0.239, three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent, Deputy District Attorney Elise Levy said. She also had marijuana in her system, Levy said.
The woman said she was “very apologetic, agreeing to everything” from booking officers.
A Tustin police officer asked the accuser to unlock her phone so he could help her call a ride from Uber just before 2:30 a.m. July 23, 2018, the accuser testified.
“The police escorted me to the car,” she said. “I specifically remember saying it’s hot in here.”
She also noticed the driver was “overweight, heavy, a bit tan, bald” before she “got tired and fell asleep… before we left the parking lot,” she testified.
The accuser characterized it as blacking out and only remembers waking up the next morning in her home where she lived with her parents.
“What should have been the safest time of the night… was, in fact, the most dangerous,” Levy told jurors in her opening statement of the trial.
Attia, who has a prior 1993 conviction for sexual battery, “immediately saw just how intoxicated she was… and took advantage of her situation and sexually assaulted her,” Levy alleged.
Attia called the alleged victim’s boyfriend to come to her home to help him get the passed-out woman out of his car, Levy said.
When the accuser woke up the next morning she felt “soreness” in her groin area and called her boyfriend, who encouraged her and then took her to a local hospital to be examined, Levy said, adding that a forensic nurse is expected to testify she was sexually assaulted.
The defendant’s DNA was found on the woman’s breast, according to the prosecutor.
Police questioned Attia on May 24, 2019, and he repeatedly denied assaulting the customer, Levy said. During that 45-minute interview, he said the woman was “pretty wasted. I don’t know how she drove… She was a mess,” according to Levy.
Near the end of the interview “his story begins to unravel” and he admits to kissing her, Levy said.
Police received a swab from the man to do DNA tests, Levy said.
Attia was questioned again Jan. 8, 2020, and he insisted the only sexual contact he had with the woman was kissing her, Levy said.
“He tries to blame her,” and alleged she threw herself at him, Levy said.
When confronted with the DNA evidence, Attia acknowledged he kissed her on the breast, Levy said.
Then investigators confronted him with a “ruse” about injuries to the woman’s groin area and he acknowledged using his fingers in a sexual way with the woman, Levy said.
“He then tries to blame her again, saying she was drunk, she was horny,” Levy said.
The woman sued Uber and settled for a “substantial amount,” Levy said.
Attia’s attorney, Ed Welbourn, said the defendant will not contest much of the evidence in the case.
“This case comes down to consent,” Welbourn said.
Attia had no information about why he was called to give the woman a ride, Welbourn said.
The defense attorney cast doubt on the woman’s claim of blacking out, saying alcohol dissipates over time and she hadn’t consumed a drink for hours before she got into the Uber.
Attia’s conviction for sexual battery dates back to when he was 18 and he had no criminal record before this case, Welbourn said.
“I believe you’re going to come to the conclusion my client is not guilty,” Welbourn said.