A woman who tried to stop a taxi driver from fleeing from a bumper bashing was on Tuesday morning mowed down by the driver and dragged underneath the vehicle for 700m before witnesses managed to force him to stop.
The woman, who is in a serious condition with abrasions to most of her body, was conscious throughout the ordeal.
A blood trail this morning ran along Lonehill Boulevard, marking the horrific incident.
It was a minor accident early on Tuesday morning in Lonehill, northern Joburg, in which the taxi driver is alleged to have negligently scraped his vehicle along the side of a Corsa bakkie in which the woman was travelling with a male companion.
The couple, who have not yet been officially identified, were driving from Main Road along Lonehill Boulevard when they were hampered on their journey by the taxi driver who was weaving through the traffic.
The taxi driver then scraped the side of their bakkie, causing minor damage. But he failed to stop at the scene.
At the four-way stop intersection at Concourse Crescent, the bakkie driver is alleged to have pulled up alongside the taxi, climbed out and tried to speak to him through the window. It is believed that the woman also got out of the bakkie and stood in front of the taxi while her companion argued with the taxi driver.
In the middle of the argument the taxi driver pulled off, knocked the woman over and continued speeding away while she was trapped under his vehicle.
The bakkie driver got back into his vehicle and chased after the taxi, hooting and trying to stop him. Other motorists who witnessed what had happened also tried to stop the taxi, but the driver continued, jumping a red light at the Lonehill Shopping Centre.
Bruce Weyers was driving in Lonehill when he noticed something hanging from under the taxi’s rear. He realised it was a woman whose feet were under the taxi, with her torso and head sticking out.
“I couldn’t see her feet and assume her clothes had hooked her under the taxi. She was awake and she had a look of trauma on her face. The freaky thing is she wasn’t making a sound,” said Weyers.
He stopped his car and started running after the moving taxi, trying to get him to stop. “But he picked up speed and I couldn’t get near him,” said Weyers. He said three other drivers saw what was happening and gave chase.
Weyers tried to call Emergency Management Services, but said that when he told the operator there was a taxi accident and they needed help, the call cut out and he tried several times to call back without success.
“In desperation I called 702 (radio),” he said, explaining how his panicked description of a woman being dragged through Lonehill underneath a runaway taxi had gone out on live radio.
Charles Jurgens was driving along the same road, taking his children to school, when he saw a number of cars chasing a taxi.
“They managed to corner him into a side road where he had no choice but to stop,” said Jurgens.
At this stage, the woman’s companion managed to stop the taxi driver with his bakkie.
“People went to go and help the woman get out from the back of the taxi while others went for the taxi driver. They were so angry I thought they were going to beat him up,” said Jurgens.
Crown Mkhuashu, a Fidelity security guard, was with colleagues at a morning parade on Lonehill Boulevard when they heard the commotion and saw a taxi jumping a red robot with a woman trapped underneath.
“We thought it was a hit-and-run and tried to stop the taxi, shouting at the driver to stop. However, he just kept on driving and suddenly a Corsa (bakkie) overtook him and stopped in front of him. That was when the taxi stopped. The man in the Corsa got out, went to the woman and cried as he started comforting her. We were so angry. We had tried to stop the taxi driver because we had seen him dragging the woman with his vehicle, but he had refused to stop,” Mkhuashu said.
Mkhuashu said he and his colleagues started pushing the taxi driver, who reportedly refused to say why he hadn’t stopped.
The woman had been hooked under the taxi because her clothes had caught on pieces of metal on the undercarriage. She had been wearing gym clothes.
“We freed her, but she was badly hurt,” the 24-year-old guard said. Mkhuashu and his colleagues called paramedics at the nearby Lonehill Fire Station.
Metro police and police officers also arrived on the scene.
Mkhuashu said it was only when police arrived that the taxi driver said he had not seen the woman in front of his taxi when he pulled off, and also did not know she was trapped underneath his vehicle. After the police interviewed him, he was instructed to get back in his taxi and drive behind them in convoy to the Douglasdale police station, where he was to be charged.
ER24 spokeswoman Vanessa Jackson confirmed reports that passengers in the taxi tried to stop the driver.
“People (outside) were screaming at him to stop and the passengers in the taxi were begging the driver to stop, but he wouldn’t,” said Jackson.
She said paramedics performed advanced life support on the woman before she was taken to Life Fourways Hospital in a critical condition with serious abrasions all over her body.
“Her injuries are severe,” she said.
The woman’s companion was also admitted to the hospital with an injury to his hand from when he hit the taxi window as the driver initially sped off.
Police spokesman Balan Muthan said Douglasdale police arrived at the scene and arrested the taxi driver.
“He was taken to the police station and will be charged with reckless and negligent driving,” said Muthan.
Muthan said the charge may be changed by the magistrate when the driver appears in court. - The Star