U.S. college student Owen Ray (19) and his friend decided to go to Copenhagen, Denmark, for spring break. What may have started as a fun vacation turned into an absolute nightmare that included 14 days in jail and has left them trapped in Denmark. Why? A physical confrontation with an Uber driver.

Owen Ray is a college student in Ohio. For spring break, he and a buddy decided to get out of town. Way out of town. They flew to Copenhagen in Denmark. On their last night in town, they booked an Uber back to the place where they were staying. Here’s the story as they tell it.

During the ride, Ray and his friend realized they had mistyped their address. When they asked the driver to change course, he refused. He said he would only drop them off at the address they’d requested. The boys were driving away from the direction they needed to go. So when the car stopped for a moment, they jumped out. Then they cancelled the ride.

They boys say the driver shouted that they hadn’t paid him. They claim he got paid when they canceled the ride. They chose to walk away. He chose to drive around the neighborhood until he found them a few blocks away. At this point, the driver reportedly got out of the car and followed the boys.

The boys say he threatened, “I’m going to call 10 guys.” The boys argued, “We’ve done nothing wrong.”

Owen Ray reports that the driver kicked him in the groin area. So Ray pushed the man away and ran. After the boys slept for the night, they returned to the Copenhagen Airport for their flight out of Denmark. That’s when authorities arrived.

Locked in a prison in Copenhagen

Danish authorities said the boys have been charged with assault over the physical altercation with the Uber driver. Authorities dubbed the boys a flight risk, so they took their passports and locked them in jail. They said the boys had to wait 10 days for trial. As days turned to weeks, they finally released the boys after 14 days. But their trial won’t happen for another 10 days.

So what happened here? We may not know until the trial. In the US, an Uber driver can change destinations or make stops requested by the passenger. The app calculates the final payment based on distance traveled and time in the car. There’s also a steep fee the driver collects if a rider cancels. If the same is true in Copenhagen, the driver obviously didn’t know this.

Owen Ray’s family has traveled to Denmark to be with their son while he waits for the trial. His friend has chosen to remain anonymous. But without their passports, neither boy is going anyway. A representative of Ray’s family claims the “scuffle” and “boys fleeing” is “all captured via the Uber’s dash cam video, which is now part of the legal proceedings in Denmark.” So let’s hope the trial goes on as scheduled and Danish authorities can get to the bottom of this. See Owen Ray’s statement in the video below: