Cabbie has seizure, cab wreaks havoc

It reads more like a screenplay than a paramedic report.

A bizarre accident sent a taxi driver to hospital, injuring four others in south Ottawa around 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

The cab driver reportedly suffered a seizure while driving, shortly after picking up two passengers on Sawmill Private.

When the car got to the corner house at Junction St. and Brookfield Rd., the driver — experiencing the seizure — inadvertently slammed the gas pedal.

The taxi went over a raised section of grass, through a handful of small trees then went airborne, smashing into and flipping over a parked BMW.

The empty Beamer remained flipped on its roof with the taxi cab — wheels still spinning — sat on top.

“It’s like a 007 movie,” said paramedic superintendent Paul Morneau.

The 29-year-old BMW owner came out of the house it was parked at to try and help.

But the cab’s left front tire exploded, sending flying shrapnel into his face.

With the noise and smoke, “people thought there was an explosion and a house fire,” said Morneau.

A bystander then tried to get the passengers out of the cab by breaking a side window.

Firefighters and paramedics extricated the taxi driver and passengers.

The cab driver, 36, was transported to hospital and listed in serious but stable condition.

His passengers, a 42-year-old woman and 30-year-old man who work together, were treated for abrasions to the face and legs respectively.

The other two men were treated on the scene for minor injuries.

Ottawa police are investigating.