BENGALURU: An ambulance driver who was shifting a five-month-old baby on oxygen support due to breathing complications from a private hospital in Tumakuru to Vani Vilas Hospital in Bengaluru was chased and attacked by four SUV-borne miscreants.
The incident took place near Nelamangala toll, on Sunday night, when the ambulance driver, John, overtook the SUV to reach the hospital at the earliest. Irritated by this, the four accused, suspected to have been in an inebriated state, chased the ambulance for over 5 km. They tore his shirt and attacked him after pulling him out of the ambulance.
Three of the four accused have been identified as Manjunath, Latish and Yuvaraj Singh, all residents of Yelachenahalli. The Nelamangala Rural police arrested them on Monday.
Describing the incident, John said, “Since it was an emergency, I overtook the SUV in which the accused were driving. They began trailing me and kept honking all the time. The child needed immediate attention, so I kept driving towards the hospital. However, when I had to slow down and wait for the toll barricade to be removed, they blocked the ambulance, and attacked me. They started abusing and hitting me. The kid’s mother kept begging them to stop, so that they could be driven to the hospital. Later, a police constable at the toll intervened, and allowed the ambulance to pass,” John said. The video of the incident went viral.
Angered over the incident, few ambulance drivers staged a protest outside the Nelamangala rural police station on Monday, demanding action against the accused.