Three young people got into the taxi of Argentine cab driver Raúl Rodríguez, took his money, and chopped off his right thumb because he didn’t have a cell-phone!
Shortly after picking up a young woman and her two male friends, the thugs threatened the cabbie with a gun and took his watch and his fares, some US$200.
Then the trio demanded Rodríguez gave them his phone, but the cabbie explained he didn’t have one; irate, one of the criminals pulled out a set of pruning shears and chopped off the driver’s right thumb.
The delinquents threw the severed thumb onto incoming traffic before leaving the cab, and getting in their getaway vehicle.
Rodríguez used his radio to contact police, and successfully directed paramedics to find his thumb. He was taken to the Central Hospital in Mendoza, where they reattached it.
Police are still investigating the episode. No suspects have been named yet.
