Istanbul minibus driver detained after chasing passenger with knife

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Istanbul police have detained a minibus driver who chased and threatened a passenger with a knife, after which the passenger fell and broke his foot.

The spat between driver Kemal Ekinci and his passenger Sinan Küçükkutlu occurred in the upmarket Caddebostan neighborhood of Kadıköy at 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 3., after Ekinci tried to accept another passenger into the minibus, despite it having no more space. After the quarrel escalated, Ekinci threatened Küçükkutlu with a knife, after which the latter ran out of the minibus. 

Küçükkutlu was then chased on the street by the knife-wielding driver, before climbing over the iron gate of a private residence complex and jumping inside the garden. Security camera footage shows the driver pointing a knife at Küçükkutlu as the latter fell to the other side of the iron gate, reportedly breaking his foot in the process. 

Footage shows Ekinci appearing next to the gate with a knife in his hand, apparently speaking to the injured Küçükkutlu who is out of shot on the other side. 

An ambulance was called to the scene by witnesses and Küçükkutlu was taken to the nearby Göztepe Education and Research Hospital. After learning the license plate of the minibus from witnesses, police later detained Ekinci.