| Ginger Meggs artist lucky to survive brush with Melbourne taxi driver |
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| It was meant to be a night of celebration for cartoonist Jason Chatfield but it ended in hospital after he was dragged along a city street by a taxi and hauled limp to safety by his panicked girlfriend. Mr Chatfield, 26, was admitted to emergency at The Alfred hospital early yesterday after attending the launch of a friend's new stage show, but his efforts to get home ended in near disaster when a cab driver refused the fare because it was "too close" and sped off while his arm was trapped in the passenger side door. "My girlfriend seems to think it was my watch band that got caught," he said, nursing serious injuries to his head, his left shoulder, arm and hand. "The driver slammed his foot on the accelerator, pulling away much faster than I could keep up running, so I was dragged along, before slamming head-first into the road on my right side. "My head and shoulder took the brunt, as the rest of the right side of my body dragged along the bitumen, damaging my drawing arm and scraping off the skin at the shoulder, elbow and wrist." The Ginger Meggs cartoonist, who lives in East Melbourne but is originally from Perth, finally detached from the car about 15 metres from where he spoke to the taxi driver, leaving him unconscious on Collins Street near the corner of Elizabeth Street about 3.20am Sunday. Mr Chatfield then had a seizure on the footpath and was given a pain-relief inhaler by paramedics, who said he couldn't remember his name or tell them what year it was. He said the driver probably knew he was stuck to the door and may not have stopped because he feared for his safety. The incident was captured by CCTV cameras at a nearby bank but the footage, which has been reviewed by police, did not show the car's number plate. He said Silvertop was unable to identify the car or driver. "I'm appealing to the cabbie to turn himself in. We don't have any leads at all," Mr Chatfield said today. "I'm a cartoonist. I have to draw and my drawing arm is damaged ... I mean, cut off my legs, but don't cut off my drawing hand, you know. I really need my right hand for work." Although he described his right arm as "shredded" and his condition as "pretty banged up", his prognosis was good. "I've got movement and feeling in my arm and I've been told to keep moving it. The wounds will heal and I will heal but it's just not a very nice situation to be in." A Victoria Police spokesman said the investigation was "still in its early stages and we're still making a number of inquiries with witnesses". "We're still trying to get a clearer picture of what happened. If anyone has information we'd ask them to contact Crimestoppers," he said. |
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