A taxi driver helped an injured and bleeding woman to get to the hospital on a rainy night, despite her repeated requests to be sent home, according to a report by Chinese news outlet Sichuan Satellite TV.
Video footage of their conversation in the taxi went viral on Chinese social media and garnered widespread praise for the taxi driver’s actions.
On May 29 around 3 a.m., in the Chinese city of Chengdu in Sichuan Province, taxi driver Wu Wenjun spotted a woman who was walking alone.
“I saw a woman walking barefoot on the Sandu Water Bridge,” Wu told Sichuan Satellite TV. “It was raining at that time, and since it was late at night, I was driving fast, and I drove past her.”
He noticed something rather startling when he drove past her.
“I saw that her whole body—she was soaked, walking barefoot,” he told the news station.
He recounted that he decided to turn his car around and pull in front of her because he felt that it was too dangerous for a woman to be walking alone and in such a state.
The woman, whose identity has not been released, got into the taxi’s back seat.
The taxi had a surveillance camera that captured the pair’s conversation.
“Why are you covered in so much blood?” Wu asked as he turned around to look at her.
“Take me back home,” the woman told Wu.
But he responded that it is best that she is sent to a hospital. To this, the woman responded that he should just take her home.
He ignored her request and asked again about why she was bleeding so much.
“I had a fight with my boyfriend,” she answered.
“I’m going to take you to the hospital, you’re bleeding way too much,” Wu said.
But the woman again said she just wanted to be taken home.
“No way, no way. I must take you to the hospital,” he replied and proceeded to drive. “I’m not kidding. I’m taking you to the hospital for free,”
To this, the woman seemed equally determined to be taken home, and again told Wu to drive her home or she would drive home on her own.
Wu pressed on, raising his voice: “Look at you! You haven’t even seen how much blood you’re losing!
“I’m taking you to the number five hospital,” he said while entering something onto his phone. It appeared that he was searching for the hospital on the phone.
Hospitals in China, as well as schools, are designated with numbers to indicate their rank. In this case, Wu was planning to send the woman to what the local government rated as the fifth best hospital in the area.
The woman again said she would drive her own car but Wu brushed off her suggestion.
“No way. Since you’ve gotten into my car, I will take you to the hospital. You don’t have to say anything else,” Wu responded.
He told Sichuan Satellite TV what happened after the pair reached the hospital.
“She was handed over to the doctor, and they took her to administer first aid,” he said.
“After about 10 minutes, I left the hospital.”
He didn’t tell anyone about what he did, but later his story became public after someone circulated the security footage on the internet.
It is unclear what happened to the woman, as local Chinese reports did not provide further information on her injuries. A photo remains of the bloodstains on the back seat of Wu’s taxi.
