Graphic content warning: Ermelo tow truck driver survives violent roadside attack
A tow truck driver was viciously attacked while trying to assist a client.
Eben Stoltz, a tow truck driver with Ermelo Towing Services, narrowly escaped death after a violent attack while assisting a client at Suncity Ext 32, a section of Acasia on the N2 road towards Piet Retief.
Stoltz was dispatched to a breakdown call on Monday at about midnight and, upon arrival, engaged with the client and his acquaintance.
Once the vehicle was secured for towing, three men appeared and approached the client.
The situation quickly escalated into a violent altercation and the men started assaulting the client and his acquaintance.
As the client and his acquaintance fled, the assailants got onto the tow truck, rummaged through the car and allegedly stole the client’s wallet.
They then turned their sights to Stoltz, demanding his valuables.
“They pulled me from my vehicle and started beating me,” Stoltz recalled.
“I felt a sharp pain in my back and realised I had been stabbed.”
The knife blade punctured his left lung and broke off inside his body. It missed his heart by 3cm, he later learnt from medical personnel.
Injured and bleeding, he managed to escape and collapsed on the roadside.
Despite his efforts to flag down passing vehicles, many ignored him and simply drove past as he lay helplessly, bleeding out.
“I was trying to wave down vehicles, but people probably mistook me for a drug addict or a drunk,” he said.
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