Elderly Taxi Driver Caught on Camera While Attacking Male Passenger Using Tire Wrench
The video footage of an elderly taxi driver attacking a male passenger with a tire wrench goes viral and garnered various reactions online.
Taxi is one of the most common public utility vehicles not only in the Philippines but also in different countries all around the world. Many people prefer to take taxi for a more convenient ride.
However, there are some abusive taxi drivers who were asking for extra charge aside from the meter-based fare. Several commuters have already reported these types of incidents but there are still some drivers who were taking advantage towards their passengers.
Due to these incidents, passengers and drivers were having an exchange of heated arguments, which usually ends in a fistfight.
Recently, a Facebook user named James Deakin has shared the video footage of an elderly taxi driver attacking his male passenger with a tire wrench. The driver keep on attacking while the passenger remains in a defensive stance.
Here is the full story:
“”Sir james, I just wanted to share this video footage of my brother being attacked by a taxi driver. Incident happened on kalayaan ave near edsa northbound at around 9:45pm last friday aug. 16. This might be of use to other commuters as a warning. What happened was at a long line commuters my brother was trying to hail a taxi and this specific taxi driver already refused 3 passengers and my brother was the 4th one. When my brother stated that his destination was just at alphaland magallanes which was roughly around 2 to 3 kms away only, the driver asked for an additional 50 pesos. My brother insisted that since it’s just near and there was no heavy traffic on edsa southbound from where they are but the driver still refused. My brother told the driver “kuya nakabukas yang for hire na ilaw mo. Kung ayaw mo din naman magsakay eh i-off mo nalang yan” when the driver suddenly went out of the vehicle wielding a tire wrench right away and approached my brother and gesturing to hit my brother with it. My brother noticed that the driver was already old and he just tried to defend himself and grab the tire wrench from the driver to avoid being hit. This is where we were thankful that a concerned citizen got his cellphone out and started taking a video. The video caught the time that my brother and the driver reached the driver side of the taxi and where the first swing of the tire wrench was done to my brother. If you could hear the loud clank of metal in the video that is my brother’s wrist watch that was hit. It was hit so hard that not only the glass were shattered but the solid metal bezel of the watch was deeply dented. If not for the watch, my brother’s bone would be fractured. The driver continued to hit my brother with the tire wrench aiming for the head. It’s a good thing that my brother was able to shield all the swings with his arm but he did get a lot of damage on his arm and as you can see in the video my brother was doing a defensive stance and just trying to shield the blows and get the tire wrench from the driver while continuously asking “inaano ba kita??”. Realizing that he sustained bruises and cuts due to the attack, my brother was trying to keep the driver from getting away as he can hear a siren nearby. Hoping that there was a police officer somewhere near them. But the driver has other plans and even tried to run my brother over when he stood in front of the taxi to try and stop him. Luckily the concerned citizen quickly forwarded the video to my brother and he was able to send it to us right away. We rushed to attend to my brother and bring him to OSMAK or orspital of makati where his injuries were treated and a medico legal procedure was done. Thanks to the video we were able to locate the taxi fleet garage and together with the pnp personnel we were able to talk to the management and even the owner of the taxi company where they agreed to compensate my brother for the initial medical expenses and even the price of the watch that was destroyed as that is their obligation as they said. And they also held their taxi driver for a few hours and was able to present the driver to us. The driver had an alibi that my brother was dtunk at that moment and that my brother was trying to force him to let him ride the taxi which is a clear failure to convey service to the riding public. But my brother was clearly not drunk as he was just about to go to work and the attack was not provoked. The driver was not aware that the incident was captured by video and when we showed it to him that was the time that he came to his senses and tried to ask for forgiveness instead. But we will continue to sue the driver as that incident could have been worse if my brother was not quick enough to shield his head and my brother could have sustained fatal injuries. I just wanted to share the video to you so that if you think this might be of use to other commuters on what to do if this happens to them as well.
By the way, the taxi driver is already 67yrs old and according to the taxi company one of the kindest drivers that they have ever since and that he might just be having a bad day or whatnot. But that does not give a right for him to attack a passenger right away with a tire wrench just because of a comment due to rejection of conveyance. Thank you in advance if you will be sharing this video as you are a big influence on all motorists and the riding public as well. God bless”
The social media users expressed their reactions to the incident:
What can you say about this? Just feel free to leave your comments and reactions to this article.
