The 60-year-old taxi driver who was involved in an accident last Christmas Day has died this Thursday at the Doctor Negrín Hospital in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where he was transferred after the incident and where he had been hospitalized since then in critical condition. The victim, Máximo Rubio, was a native of Palencia, although he had been working for years as a taxi driver in the municipality of Tías.
"Apart from being a good colleague, he was a good person. A very good person. We are all affected," lamented the Tías Taxi Cooperative, where they remember his sense of humor, his good treatment and the details he had with his colleagues.
As for the driver of the other vehicle, a 28-year-old Italian man, he later tested positive for drugs and alcohol, as confirmed to La Voz by the Civil Guard. According to witnesses, that second car was driving in the same direction as the taxi, ahead of it, and at one point its driver lost control and crashed into the guardrail, so that it was across the lane without the taxi driver being able to avoid it.
The driver, who was traveling with another young Italian man and who is a resident of Lanzarote, was already facing a crime against road safety for driving under the influence of alcohol and for the injuries caused to the taxi driver in the accident, although now the charges could increase to reckless homicide.
After the impact, the taxi driver went into cardiorespiratory arrest and although the SUC paramedics managed to reverse it, he was transferred in critical condition to the Molina Orosa Hospital. Later, that same afternoon he was evacuated to Gran Canaria due to the severity of his injuries.
As for the driver of the other vehicle, he suffered a mild hip injury and was also admitted to the Molina Orosa Hospital, although he was discharged that same night.
