[FOLLOW UP] Taxi full of children drives over man – driver abandons them soon after
"It was apparently a newly appointed taxi driver and he could have killed all those children if he had gone any faster. They're so traumatised."
On Monday, 14 August, a taxi driver drove over a pedestrian at the intersection of Furrow and Hendrik Potgieter Roads.
Reports from the scene suggest the taxi driver was transporting primary and nursery school learners to school when the incident happened.
Read initial article here: Man knocked over in alleged hit and run accident
Wendy van Zyl was in her car waiting for the traffic light to change when she saw the taxi flying over the pavement.
“He was speeding and hit the man standing on the pavement. He didn’t even flinch or stop, he just continued driving. The man was being dragged underneath the taxi. I closed my eyes for a brief second because it was so horrifying.”
Van Zyl said the victim finally emerged from under the speeding taxi and was left in the middle of the intersection.
“I stopped to help. He was alive for a brief second and then he died. The police were on scene moments later.”
A man sitting in his car next to Van Zyl chased after the taxi.
“No one else assisted. A driver behind me nearly pushed me off the road to get past and just drove off,” said Van Zyl.
Also read: Taxi driver who killed pedestrian and fled the scene arrested
“To me, it felt like those who didn’t stop might have thought it was just another hit-and-run.”
She said the man who chased after the taxi came back moments later and told the police who responded swiftly that he knew where the taxi was.
“When they got back to the taxi, the driver was gone and the children were still sitting inside. The older ones were crying while the younger ones just sat there, completely confused.”
An eyewitness said there were five learners inside the taxi – three nursery school and two primary school learners.
Denise Spark lives in the area and can see the intersection from her house. She said she saw what had happened and later when the nursery school called her domestic worker to ask why her child was not at school, she knew that it might have been the taxi she had travelled in that was involved in the hit-and-run. She was later alerted that her child had been taken to nursery school by the police because the school is opposite the Muldersdrift Police Station.
Spark said she was furious about the situation and hoped the driver would not get away with murder.
“Those children were so traumatised,” said Spark. “It was apparently a newly appointed taxi driver. He could have killed all those children if he had gone any faster. This crime shouldn’t go unpunished.”
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