Cement Mixer Mayhem

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 17 December 2017)


                Disproportionate use of force.

In Istanbul, on 3 December at around 1630, at the road juncture that
connects the Dudullu Organized Industrial Area to Ataşehir, the driver
of a cement mixer with plate number 34 KM 7296 got into a right-of-
way argument with car driver Emre Bağcı.  The truck driver hit Bağcı
with a baseball bat, got back behind the wheel of his mixer and crashed
into Bağcı's car 4 times, while Bağcı's pregnant wife was in the car (!).
Miraculously, both Bağcı and his wife were unhurt.  After giving a
statement at the police station the truck driver was released.

Bağcı related the incident as follows: "I signaled to the cement mixer
driver that he was going too fast, to which he responded 'the road is
mine!'  I said that's not the point. You're driving too fast and my
pregnant wife got scared.  I wanted to just go on my way but he
drove his truck in front of my car.  I got out and said 'What are you
doing?! Are you going to kill us?!'  Then he said 'Didn't I tell you that
the road is mine?!'  I opened his truck's door and he hit me with a bat
a number of times.  Somehow, I dragged him out of his truck and
punched him.  Passersby then broke up the fight."


Emre bey, soon-to-be father of twins, in post-mayhem pose.

"The truck driver got back in his truck and backed up. I thought he
was fleeing the scene but instead he drove his truck into my car.  I
jumped in front of my car but that didn't deter him.  While my wife
was in the car he backed up and crashed into my car twice.  I got my
wife out of the car and he crashed into it twice more with a smirk on
his face.  The police came and my wife was taken to the hospital in
an ambulance because her blood pressure dropped."

"The guy tried to kill me, my wife and my unborn twins. Meanwhile,
at the hospital I learned that my car had been towed so I went to the
lot to fetch it along with the police.  I showed them the video of the
incident and the police decided to change their report from a
traffic accident to a crime.  Nevertheless, at the police station the
truck driver wouldn't give his name.  I called his employer Akbeton
but they were non-committal."

Subsequently, Akbeton confirmed that the truck driver has been fired.


Green arrow gives the approximate site of the mayhem.