A taxi dashcam captured the moment a local police sheriff thwarted an attempted robbery on its driver in Reading, Pennsylvania on 7 March. The video uploaded onto social media by Reading Metro Taxi, shows Victor Martinez-Herrera entering the taxi of Ralph Valleta and pointing a gun at the driver's head, while failing to notice the police car driving up behind them, driven by Deputy Sheriff Terry Ely.

The president of Reading Metro Taxicab, Curtis G Stricker, said that Ely stood at the traffic lights on his way home when he realised that something strange was happening in front of him. In spite of multiple light changes from red to green, the taxi in front of him did not move. Ely went over to check what had happened and ended up stopping a robbery.

Stricker stated that Victor Martinez-Herrera, 18 has now is now facing multiple charges. He also reported that Martinez was the first client of Valletta that day; the taxi driver had just started his shift at 4pm and had only $11 (£7.70) on him. Fortunately, the 63-year-old Valletta, who works for the company for over 25 years, got out unscathed.

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