Tributes have flowed in to the ordinary heroes who rushed to comfort victims of the Melbourne CBD car attack.
One post about a taxi driver who calmly stepped in to help a young woman injured in the attack has gone viral, with 52,000 likes and 14,000 shares.
The post, by witness Henry Dow, described the chaos after the accident. Dow, who had Surf Lifesaving training, ran to assist a young woman.
He was helped by a man called Lou:
“Lou grabbed my hand and firmly told me to keep it together, that I was ok and that we needed to keep strong for this woman….”
Dow recalled how Lou issued loud, level orders to other pedestrians while reassuring the woman: “I am Lou, you are going to be ok, we are looking after you”
“It kept going through my head,” wrote Dow, “thank f**k I lucked out and have an emergency services veteran here with me.”
“Surely Lou was Ambulance, Police or SAS… Lou was not. Lou, in his white shirt and neat dark tie, was a taxi driver”
Dow later writes: “Many images and sounds will stay with me much longer than I might like [from that day] but I am glad to have seen, and hope I never forget, just how brave and loving strangers can be.”
Meanwhile, footage has emerged of a man running into the middle of the road in an attempt to stop the driver of the car, James Gargasoulas. The man carried a bat and tried to smash the car’s windshield, as it careened crazily around central Melbourne.