CCTV footage showing the moment a taxi driver dragged an unconscious passenger from his cab by the feet and dumped him in the middle of a busy road has been released by police.
Officers want to track the cabbie down after he left the man lying in the way of oncoming traffic before driving off.
The passenger remained in the street – Fenchurch Place, in central London – for several minutes before members of the public went to his aid.
The footage shows he banged his head on the car and concrete as he was removed.
PC Christopher Hook, of City of London police, said: “To forcibly move a vulnerable person from your taxi and to leave them lying in the middle of the road is appalling and we need to find the man that did this.”
He added that 10 minutes after dumping the passenger, the driver reappeared, without his taxi, walking down the street.
He spoke to an off-duty police officer who was among those tending to the unconscious man. But he did not reveal that the victim – who was taken to hospital by paramedics – had been in his vehicle.
PC Hook added: “We would like to speak to anyone who witnessed this incident.”
It occurred shortly after 6am on May 16.
