Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
This is the shocking moment a US soldier allegedly rams a Turkish teenager while speeding over a crossing, sending the young woman flying in the air and leaving her paralysed.
The accident took place in the district of Bodrum in the Turkish province of Mugla on 1st July.
The video was shared on social media by local teacher Acun Karadag where it has been viewed 277,000 times.
In her post, Karadag, who called on NGOs to help support the paralysed victim, said: “I want to tell you how an 18-year-old girl’s right to a healthy life was taken away; how she was thrust into a struggle for survival that will last years. I will also tell you how the person who did this ran away as if nothing happened.
“Ezgi Aydindag is an 18-year-old girl who was a university student. She suffered a terrible accident in Bodrum on 1st July 2021. A speeding car hit Ezgi on a pedestrian crossing.
“She was paralysed as a result of the rupture of her spinal nerves due to the impact. Her parents are retired. Ezgi continues her treatment under difficult conditions after surviving an accident with a 10 percent chance of survival.
“Ezgi underwent two very important surgeries. One of them was at Mugla State Hospital and the second was at the Istanbul Sisli Florence Nightingale Hospital.
“The driver is an American aircraft technician working for a NATO team. After the accident, he assured the family that he would pay for Ezgi’s treatment costs. However, after Ezgi’s second surgery, he suddenly said he would not pay.”
CCTV footage of the accident, shared by Karadag on Twitter on 16th September, shows the victim being thrown high in the air after being rammed by the car on the crossing.
According to the news site Mugla Yenigun, Reginald Thevenin, the American driver, was found 100 percent to blame for the accident.
He was reportedly released by the police with only a travel ban preventing him from leaving Turkey.
Karadag said: “This person’s travel ban continues. However, if there is no support on social media for this case, we know that he will find an opportunity and flee.”
Thevenin’s lawyer, Candan Topaloglu, made the following statement on behalf of her client on 17th September: “Considering the nature of the incident was an accident and there was no intent, I request on behalf of my client Reginald Thevenin that this information pollution, spread by word of mouth, should be disregarded, and to not post things that do not contribute to the judicial-legal process and only serve to attack personal rights.”
There have been no further updates on the current status of the investigation.
