Robber and victim share same hospital ward
JAKARTA (JP): Angry residents of Pekayon Jaya in Bekasi Selatan mobbed a school student after he repeatedly stabbed a taxi driver and tried to run off with his taxi on Jl. Pulau Sirih Raya Selatan late on Thursday night.
Luckily, police came to save the robber, Seigh Niki, took both the suspect and the victim, Sularno, to Bekasi Hospital. The hospital has, surprisingly, placed both the robber and the victim in the same emergency ward.
South Bekasi subprecinct police chief of the anti-riot unit Second.Insp. M. Nababan said Niki, 18, took a taxi driven by Sularno, 46, from Senayan east parking lot in Central Jakarta to take him to Bekasi.
Upon reaching Jl. Pulau Sirih Raya Selatan, the suspect took out a knife and held it to the neck of Sularno and threatened him that if he didn't hand over all his day's earnings, he would die.
He refused Niki's order, so Niki stabbed him in his chest and stomach and slashed his left hand with the knife.
As the driver still refused to hand over any money, Niki then kicked him out of the taxi, causing the driver to be dragged for about 10 meters by the taxi.
"I shouted for help, fortunately local residents rushed out of their homes and chased the taxi," Sularno told The Jakarta Post, while lying in a room at the hospital emergency ward.
"The suspect who escaped with my taxi hit an electricity pole some 50 meters ahead. When he tried to back off, the taxi hit a car behind it," he said.
Niki failed to escape with the taxi. Residents caught up with him and started beating him badly until he collapsed. Police came to his rescue.
"I was nervous. After I kicked the driver out the taxi he shouted for help and I saw local residents chasing me. That's why I hit the electricity pole," Niki, who was treated in the same room as Sularno, told the Post.
Nababan said, to avoid angering Sularno's fellow drivers who would visit him at the hospital, the suspect would be transferred as soon as possible to South Bekasi subprecinct police headquarters. (01)