Passers-by lift Minicab from man in a desperate bid to save his life following tragic collision

IT consultant Sridhar Munnaluri, 42, tragically died after being crushed beneath a private hire vehicle in Swindon despite the efforts of passers-by who worked together to lift the vehicle from him. The married father of two was on his way home at around 7.35pm when he was struck by the Peugeot 5008 outside a grocery store. In a statement read out by assistant coroner Nicholas Rheinberg, witness Tania Nanitas told police that she had seen the minicab overtaking, “at some speed”, a car which was parked outside the grocery store.... “As[the driver] was doing this I saw a man come out of the shop and step on the white[hatching] lines. The man stepped on to the white lines with both feet already on the road when I heard a loud noise.” Mr Munnaluri was thrown into the air and then fell, and became trapped, beneath the minicab. The inquest heard from nurse Sizure Hlophe, who was present at the time of the incident but was not on-duty. She said: “People were shouting for him[the driver] to stop. I got out of my car to help and was calling the emergency services on my phone. “I checked for his pulse. He was still breathing. Myself and several others then lifted the car from the man so we could get access to him and so we could relieve pressure. “The whole incident was horrible and traumatic. Although I work in an accident and emergency department at a hospital, I have never witnessed a collision like this before. It was very upsetting.” The driver of the minicab, a Mr Jumma Shakeeb was cautioned by police at the scene. Shakeeb said that he did not see Mr Munnaluri step out into the road. “I didn’t see him at all... if I saw him I would have stopped.” Speaking to the police, Shakeeb said that he heard “two banging noises” and believed something had collided with his vehicle. He then stopped. According to the Swindon Advertiser, evidence of the collision was presented to the Crown Prosecution Service, but no action has been taken against Jumma Shakeeb. 

HM Assistant Coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, Rheinberg, concluded Mr Munnaluri had died from severe brain injuries as a result of a road traffic collision. He said: “The exact sequence of events are a little bit difficult to follow, because two witnesses to these events have given conflicting accounts, but it seems the taxi came to the junction and the driver looked to the right. Whether or not he looked to the left is unclear, but he will have looked to the left as he turned into Corporation Street. “Sadly, the taxi driver did not see Mr Munnaluri in the road and a collision took place as a result of which Mr Munnaluri received fatal injuries.

"It is not for this inquiry to seek to apportion blame, but merely to record as well as it is possible what happened.” Mr Rheinberg added: “This inquiry has heard that on Saturday, September 30, last year Mr Munnalari had attended his temple in Reading and it is assumed that on the way back home to Swindon he decided to do some shopping and would have gone into the shop at the corner of Lagos Street and Corporation Street in New Town in Swindon. It was at about 7.35pm in the evening that Mr Munnaluri left the shop. He was carrying shopping bags and witnesses or a witness described him stepping into the road. “The CCTV has been examined by the expert to this inquiry, Officer Chambers, and shows Mr Munnaluri left by the Corporation Street exit to the shop and premises. He was intending to cross Corporation Street. “He stepped out into the road at something of an angle to Corporation Street. At that moment a taxi had come down Lagos Street.”