Uber confirms suspected Isis truck driver passed background checks

Uber has confirmed that suspected truck terrorist attacker Sayfullo Saipov previously worked for the company as a driver.

The popular company issued a statement late Tuesday night about 29-year-old Saipov, who they said passed a background check to work for the ride-hailing service, according to Daily Mail.

"We are horrified by this senseless act of violence. Our hearts are with the victims and their families," the statement reads.

"We have reached out to law enforcement to provide our full assistance."

The company is now "aggressively and quickly reviewing" the man's history with Uber to assist with the investigation into Saipov, who is suspected of driving a Home Depot truck down a bike path near the World Trade Center site, killing eight people and injuring 15 others.

Uber also said they have banned Saipov from the app.

Saipov was taken into custody by police after he was shot in the stomach by hero NYPD officer Ryan Nash, 28, while trying to flee the attack scene shouting "Allahu Akbar".

A federal law enforcement source told CBS News that a note was found in the suspect's truck that made reference to Isis.

Ariel Erlij, Hernán Diego Mendoza, Diego Enrique Angelini, Alejandro Damián Pagnucco and Hernán Ferruchi were all killed when the Uzbek man allegedly drove for 17 blocks down a bicycle path in a scenic area of Manhattan's West Side.

A sixth man in the group, Martin Ludovico Marro, was also admitted to hospital after the incident, which killed a total of eight people and injured at least 15.

Even more tragically, Erlij, who runs a steel mill in Argentina, had paid out of his own pocket to ensure two of the members of the group could be there, local news reported.

Saipov, who used addresses in both Tampa, Florida and most recently Paterson, New Jersey, is out of surgery and in recovery from his injury at a New York hospital.

The manager of his local grocery store in Paterson, Farm Boy Super Fresh Supermarket on Getty Avenue, claims that Saipov was an "erratic" customer who berated the cashiers, the New York Post reported.

"Every time he came here he was always erratic or arguing with the cashiers," the manager told the Post about Saipov.

"He would get angry very fast.... he would break the cans, dumb things."

The manager, who did not want to provide her name, added that Saipov was known for his rude behaviour, as he called them "uneducated".

"I feel like he was prejudiced to the cashiers - whether they were covered or not in a hijab - he would belittle them," the manager told the Post.

"He was talking good English, proper, but he would call the cashiers dumb, uneducated - how they didn't know how to scan the items."

She also said that Saipov, who moved to the US in 2010 from Uzbekistan, argued often about the price of popular Canada Dry Ginger Ale.

"Soda was the problem. He would come here and buy soda," she told the Post.

Police work near a damaged Home Depot truck after a motorist drove onto a bike path near the World Trade Center memorial, striking and killing several people. Photo / AP

"He would give us a hard time on the 12-pack Canada Dry - if it was one price he would want his own price. It was always the soda, always a problem with the 12-pack of cans. Always a problem."

But Kobiljon Matkarov, one friend to the suspect, said he was "very friendly".

The 37-year-old told the New York Post that he met Saipov roughly five years ago in Florida where they became friends.

"He is very good guy, he is very friendly ... he is like little brother ... he look at me like big brother," Matkarov told the Post by phone from his home in Miamisburg, Ohio.

"My kids like him too, he is always playing with them. He is playing all the time."

He said that Saipov had been living in New Jersey and working for Uber as recently as this past summer.

Matkarov said that Saipov took him to John F. Kennedy Airport back in June when he flew to Uzbekistan with his children and wife.

"He dropped me to the airport with my family... I called him and said I needed a ride," Matkarov stated.

But Matkarov said that his son asked for a photo when they were departing and Saipov declined.

Matkarov said Saipov got along well with his five kids, who enjoyed playing with him.
"He no like that. He said no," Matkarov said.

He added that he did not know Saipov to have any terrorist corrections.

According to online records, he worked as a commercial truck driver and had also lived in Ohio previously.

He also has a minor criminal record for traffic offences in Missouri and Pennsylvania.

Saipov provided an address in St Charles County, Missouri for that traffic violation, which shows the location is registered address for STL Logistics LLC.

That company had a Freightliner tractor and semi-trailer registered, records show.

He was arrested by St. Charles County police after failing to pay a traffic citation.

Court records also show he was stopped in Mount Holly Springs Borough, Pennsylvania on March 26, 2015 by Deputy Ron Hoover of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department.

Saipov, who provided authorities with an address in Paterson, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to a single charge of maximum length of a single trailer and paid the fees associated with the citation.

He has two businesses registered in Ohio - Sayf Motors in Hamilton County from May 2011 and Bright Auto in Cuyahoga Falls from August 2013.

According to state records, Sayf Motors is located at an apartment in Cincinnati and the licence remains active.

Bright Auto is also based in an apartment and records show the company is an active carrier registered with the US Department of Transportation.

Records show that the trucking company has one truck and one driver.