Taxi driver David Perry was hailed about 10 minutes away from the hospital, and managed to escape as the homemade explosive detonated in his car.
Liverpool’s mayor is hailing taxi driver David Perry a hero following the Sunday morning explosion outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital in northwestern England that British authorities declared an act of terrorism.
Perry, who survived the blast, had been driving the taxi that brought the suspected terrorist to the hospital and is credited with intervening and preventing an “awful disaster,” Mayor Joanne Anderson said in an interview with BBC Radio 4 Monday.
Perry was able to escape the vehicle after the homemade explosive device detonated inside his car, reportedly locking the doors on his way out and trapping the suspected terrorist inside the taxi as it burst into flames, surveillance footage from the incident showed.
Perry suffered minor injuries like cuts and a ruptured ear drum. He also fell unconscious briefly before escaping the car, according to an online fundraiser a supporter created for his family. He has since been discharged from the hospital, according to BBC News.
“The taxi driver, in his heroic efforts, has managed to divert what could have been an absolutely awful disaster at the hospital,” Anderson told BBC Radio 4, praising Perry’s “quick thinking to lock the taxi and get out of the taxi."
"It does look as though the taxi driver in question did behave with incredible presence of mind and bravery," Prime Minister Boris Johnson told press.
“He is without a doubt lucky to be alive,” Perry’s wife Rachel wrote on Facebook.
Only one person, the suspected attacker, was killed in the terrorism incident. He had hailed a taxi from about 10 minutes away, and asked the driver to be taken to the hospital, BBC News reported. The explosive detonated after they pulled up in front of the hospital just before 11 a.m. local time, and the unnamed attacker was declared dead at the scene.
“It is not clear what the motivation for this incident is,” Russ Jackson, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North West, told press. “Our inquiries indicate that an improvised explosive device has been manufactured, and our assumption so far is that it was built by the passenger.”
So far, four people have been arrested in connection with the incident under the Terrorism Act. Three men, aged 21, 26 and 29, were arrested just hours after the blast on Sunday, and a forth man, 20, was arrested Monday, authorities announced in a statement. Their names have not yet been released.
They can be held for up to 14 days without being charged as per the Terrorism Act in Britain, according to The New York Times.
Authorities are continuing to investigate the incident, and British intelligence MI5 is assisting.
