The woman screamed as the taxi hit her and landed on the ground, blood dripping from her face.
She begged onlookers to call her parents, and said her back was hurting.
A female Law Enforcement officer and another woman held the crying woman’s hand until police and emergency services arrived a few minutes later.
The taxi driver got out his van and looked at the dent in front of the vehicle, before getting back in and then attempted to drive off.
However, several people blocked his way and he said ‘yoh’ when he heard the police sirens.
A witness said she heard the speeding van coming before she saw it.
Priscilla Clanson, 32, from Athlone explains: “He was driving like a mal vark and he hit the lady hard. His windscreen cracked, the front of the van and the driver’s door are damaged. This driver did not even care and would have driven off if we had not blocked him.”
Robert Daniels, of emergency medical and forensic pathology services, says: “EMS services arrived and once the victim was checked she was lifted onto a stretcher, and taken to the New Somerset Hospital.
“Preliminary reports show she has sustained injuries to her back, neck and ribs on the right side.”
Police spokesperson Constable Carol Strauss says a case of reckless and negligent driving is being investigated. No arrests were made.