Police escort helps thumb amputee race to hospital during rush hour traffic
Policemen on motorcycles cleared the way to hospital for a man who accidentally cut off one of his thumbs on Monday evening, police said on Tuesday.
Unfortunately the man lost his thumb in the end, but police said the man’s wife still called them on Tuesday morning to express the family’s gratitude.
The man, surnamed Xu, who lives in Datuan Town of Pudong New Area, cut off his left thumb when furnishing his house on Monday afternoon.
Calling an ambulance with no success, Xu’s family found a taxi to take them to Huashan Hospital in Jing’an District, which was 50 kilometers away, police said.
Around 6:45pm, the height of the evening rush hour, the taxi arrived at the Luoshan Road exit of the Outer Ring Road, but the taxi, with a Shanghai C plate, was not able to continue.
The family then called police on 110 for help, and got a quick response.
Pudong police asked the taxi driver to drive to a point at Luoshan Elevated Road at Zhangjiang Viaduct where Huang Yu, a traffic police officer patrolling on a motorcycle, had arranged for another taxi. He then began a police escort along the city’s elevated roads.
After only about 15 minutes, they arrived at the off-ramp of Yan’an Elevated Road at Huashan Road, which could have taken 50 minutes in normal circumstances.
At the off-ramp, Zhu Yuan and Gu Zhun, two traffic police officers on motorcycles from Jing’an District who are more familiar with the way to the hospital, took over the police escort. After two minutes they arrived at the hospital, which would normally be a 15-minute journey at that time of day.
At the hospital, the effort to replant Xu’s thumb ultimately failed. Doctors said that too much time was lost during the trip before police took over.
A police officer from Jing'an District helps the family get into another taxi before creating a police escort to hospital.
