One of the Americans arrested for almost two weeks in Denmark for an alleged assault against an Uber driver while visiting Copenhagen on his university spring vacation said he was “shocked” that he and his friend were arrested and sustained that they are innocent.
“We were both surprised by the fact that we were arrested by this incident,” Owen Ray told “Good Morning America” on Monday, hours after he and his friend were released. “We hadn’t done anything wrong,” Ray added.
Ray, a 19 -year -old who studied at the University of Miami in Ohio, and his unidentified friend was arrested at Copenhagen airport on April 1 for an alleged dispute with an Uber driver the previous night, Jordan Finfer, a lawyer based in Ray’s United States, said ABC News. The Local Police arrested them while they were heading home after considering them “flight risks”, claiming that they were planning to leave the incident, he said.
In an account transmitted to Finfer, who later shared the details with ABC News, Ray said he and his friend realized that they had entered the wrong direction for their destination, and the Uber driver supposedly 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 stopped, left the car and “started shouting at us, thinking that they had not paid him for the Uber, but in fact, they had paid him for the Uber,” Ray said.
“Then he entered our faces and said: ‘I’m going to call 10 boys,” Ray said.
“We said: ‘We haven’t done anything wrong. We haven’t done anything wrong.’ Then an altercation began with us,” Ray said.
Owen Ray speaks with “Good Morning America” of Denmark, April 14, 2025.
ABC news
“The safety of all those who use the Uber application is a priority, and we take the reports of violence very seriously,” said an Uber spokesman in a statement to ABC News on Sunday. “Any additional question about the investigation must be addressed to the Danish police,” the statement added.
Copenhagen police said the two students were accused of common assault.
After his arrest, Ray said he thought he could explain to a judge what happened and released.
“But then we went to the judge, and they really told us that we would be imprisoned in a Danish prison for 10 days,” he said.
Ray said he couldn’t make a phone call for 36 hours after his arrest and didn’t know if his parents knew where he was.
“I was initially very worried about making sure to get in touch,” he said.
He said he was able to send a text message to his mother from a phone in court, and she ended up flying to Denmark.
“I felt very relieved to have heard that I could do that, and grateful that she could,” Ray said. “I am very grateful to my family and all those who have supported me throughout this situation.”
Ray said he also helped him and his friend have while they stopped.
“We read books, we play cards, we play chess and fortunately we could overcome it in a good mental state,” he said.
His initial 10 -day arrest prior to trial in the midst of the incident investigation was extended later until April 24, a Copenhagen police spokesman told ABC News.
Ray said his Danish lawyer presented an appeal last week, and the judge failed in his favor on Monday, freeing them.
The teenager said that the Danish authorities have their passports and have to register with the police daily until they receive an update on the case. He said he believes that they are waiting for the investigating authorities to leave the case or establish a trial date.
Ray said he and his friend are in a good mental state, and that he plans to maintain a positive attitude about the terrible experience while he hopes to resolve soon.
“I just hope that Denmark and the legal authorities can, and the United States government can help us and do what they can help us be released by Easter, so that I can be at home with my family,” Ray said.
“I think the best case would be that the Danish police and the prosecutor leave the case at this time, because we are completely innocent and that our passports return us and allow us to return to the United States,” he said.
A spokesman for the United States Department of State said in a statement on Sunday that they are “aware of the media reports of two US citizens detained in Denmark. The staff of our embassy in Copenhagen is providing consular assistance.”
“The department has no higher priority than the safety of US citizens abroad,” the statement continued. “Due to privacy considerations, we have no more comments.”