My Cell Phone Saved My Life

cell.jpgWomen hear about bad things that happen to other women all of the time. But I, like many others, forget that these things could happen to me. Luckily, when I was kidnapped by a taxi driver on Friday night, I had my cell phone on me.

The phone only had battery power because I’d shut it off earlier that night when I saw it only had one bar. I thought to myself, “You don’t want to have a dead phone in case of an emergency.”

Thank god I thought that because six hours later, I was calling 911 on a taxi driver who refused to let me out of his car. I’d tried to use my debit card to pay for our ride, but he claimed his machine was not working. I requested to try again and he began to grow angry with me, shouting, “This is your problem! Not my problem!”

When I finally told the man that this was actually HIS problem, he child locked all of the doors in the car and sped off with me, screaming about how he would just take me to the police station. This was all quite baffling to me. After all, I had my card in my hand and was ready and willing to pay for the cab right there if his machine would work.

I tried everything I could to unlock the doors. They wouldn’t budge. I was pounding on the glass between the driver’s seat and mine. I put my head through the hole in the glass to tell him to stop the car and he raised his hand to hit me; luckily, I moved away. At this point, I grabbed my phone and called 911.

Once he realized I was serious about calling 911 and that this situation would only escalate if he didn’t pull over, he finally stopped the car. Conveniently enough, he stopped the car next to a police car stationed on the street with two officers on duty.

The officers let me out of the car and we found out his machine was, in fact, working just fine. What happens next will be decided by court. However, I really wonder what would have happened had I not saved my battery power and had my cell phone on me to call 911 and show the driver that I wasn’t about to put up with his bullsh*t.

Please let this be a lesson to all of you out there, particularly the women, to always have your cell phones on hand (and charged) just in case.

8 Comments on "My Cell Phone Saved My Life"

  1. K says:
    Mon, 4th Aug 20083:31 pm 

    Elizabeth, scary story. Good job for not getting scared stiff, who knows what could have happened!

    In the city I am living in we have had a few incidents were cabbies or drivers posing as cabbies have killed girls who are alone in their car. So a tip for taking taxis, always use registered cars, not just something with a yellow sign on top.

  2. Casey says:
    Mon, 4th Aug 20085:56 pm 

    I’m so glad I don’t have to take taxi’s where I live. My phone currently doesn’t have service (I haven’t paid the bill) and that happens quite often, and even when it does have service my battery sucks and dies within hours and doesn’t charge very well (I suggest never buying a motorola, they’re crap) but my god, glad you’re ok.

  3. Heather says:
    Mon, 4th Aug 20085:56 pm 

    yeah this is really scary. i always keep my phone on me, but this definitly scared the crap out of me. you did so well though, and it was a very good thing your phone was on you.

  4. Carly says:
    Mon, 4th Aug 20087:31 pm 

    And this is why I am so upset with my cell phone company that my phone doesn’t have service half the time.

  5. Claire says:
    Mon, 4th Aug 200810:54 pm 

    Wow! That’s kinda scary! The guy probably didn’t want to pay the fee that the company he got the machine from charges for each transaction. Tht why these machines aren’t lucrative unless a business is super super busy. Judging by this guy’s character, I’d say he probably doesn’t have very many customers! Ha!

  6. R says:
    Wed, 6th Aug 20083:06 am 

    Casey (and every other cash strapped chica) you should still carry your phone even if service is disconnected. You can still use it to call 911 in an emergency. The same goes for most old phones…just thought that might be helpful info.

  7. holly says:
    Tue, 12th Aug 20088:45 am 

    I’m glad you’re okay!

  8. Manoura says:
    Mon, 16th Feb 20092:28 pm 

    wow… where do you live exactly… i’ll be sure to be on the lookout the next time i go there… haha… that was a really brave thing for you to do… i’m glad you’re okay…

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