Viral video: Passenger beats up taxi driver

Singapore – A video of a passenger in the back seat of a car beating up a driver is circulating online.

The vicious attack on a taxi driver is believed to have taken place in Taiwan, although it is not clear when the incident happened.

It could be before Covid-19 struck because all the people in the video were not wearing masks.

Most of the conversation is in the Taiwanese Hokkien dialect, and parts of it are inaudible and unclear.

The dashboard camera video starts with a passenger talking to the driver.

“I’ll sit here and wait for you,” the passenger is heard saying.

The driver, however, tells the man gently, “You alight from the vehicle, lah.”

At this point, a person waiting outside by the vehicle’s back door tries pulling the passenger out, but the latter refuses.

In response to more remarks from the passenger, the driver thanks him repeatedly in Mandarin: “Hsieh, hsieh.”

An argument then ensues between the driver and passenger.

The passenger then tells the driver to get out of the vehicle, but the latter remains in the car.

The man at one point says, “I am who I am”, and the driver responds, “I am also who I am”.

As the argument continues, the passenger repeatedly hits the driver on the chest. The latter tells him to stop several times.

The driver then throws an elbow punch at the passenger, and they start fighting.

The passenger eventually leaves the vehicle while the driver continues throwing punches at him from his seat.

As the driver positions himself back on his seat, the passenger walks around the car and throws more punches at the driver from his open window.

A man in a dark shirt is also seen punching the driver.

One of the men eventually opens the driver’s door and throws another punch. Blood can be seen dripping from his mouth.

The passenger also breaks a rear window and hurls vulgarities at the driver.

Towards the end of the video, the driver says in response to someone outside the vehicle, possibly about dropping the passenger somewhere: “That’s what I said, he said cannot.”

Right before the footage ends, the passenger elbows the passenger window, causing it to crack./TISG

Read related: Taxi driver often buys extra food on his way home for anyone in need of a meal

Taxi driver often buys extra food on his way home for anyone in need of a meal