A court hearing is scheduled this month in New Zealand for a retired Dana Point physician charged with driving dangerously in the wrong direction when his car struck and seriously injured another motorist on Jan. 27, sparking condemnation among some in the island nation.
Sara Duan, 33, who suffered multiple spine fractures in the Queenstown crash, said Dr. Raman Sidhar, 73, who was driving a rented 2021 Toyota Camry, did not offer her medical aid and claimed he abruptly left New Zealand seven hours after the collision.
Duan, a hotel chef who was on her way to work at the time of the collision, told the Southern California News Group: “As a doctor, he is very aware of my situation at the time of the crash when I was trapped in the car and couldn’t get out, meanwhile suffering from extreme body pain, with blood coming out of my mouth.
“But he chose not to offer anything of help. If it weren’t for the driver behind me who kindly helped me out of the smoking car, I honestly didn’t know what would happen to me.”
However, a spokesperson for Sidhar, who asked not to be identified because legal proceedings involving the doctor are ongoing, disputed portions of Duan’s account on Tuesday, March 7.
Sidhar, who was previously employed as a family medicine physician with the Veterans Affairs Loma Linda Healthcare System, asked Duan if she was OK, and provided police with a statement and contact information before obtaining permission to leave the crash scene, according to the spokesperson.
“He feels sorry this happened,” the spokesperson said. “No one wants to be involved in an accident.”
Sidhar and his wife, who had been on a monthlong trip to Australia and New Zealand, didn’t quickly slip out of the country, the spokesperson said. Following the collision, the couple flew to Auckland International Airport, where they were stranded for two days after the area was besieged with major flooding.
Sidhar’s ordeal, first reported by the online news…
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