It was passion, but not love in Negril Square, Westmoreland, last weekend, when a Rastafarian man took out his anger on a taxi operator and bit off a piece of his tongue.

THE WEEKEND STAR understands that the bizarre act on Saturday evening resulted from a quarrel that escalated into a physical confrontation between the Rasta and the cabbie.

The incident has been confirmed by several persons in the Negril area, some of whom find the act very humorous.

"(The) taxi driver was doing his regular routine of asking passengers if they were heading his direction towards the West End," a witness told this newspaper.

It is said that the Rasta approached the taxi stand and was asked by the driver if he would be travelling along the West End, Negril route. "Me nah drive wid yuh cause yuh drive too fast and yuh soon dead," the Rasta is said to have replied curtly.

His response, however, is said to have triggered a verbal attack from the taximan who proceeded to unleash a number of disrespectful remarks towards the Rasta and his mother.

taxi operators

The witness added; "It then turned out that the driver and the Rasta got into a fight and attempts made by the other taxi operators to part the two, proved futile."

It is understood that the incensed Rasta subsequently grabbed the driver's throat, which caused his tongue to protrude from his mouth as he was denied oxygen.

It was then that it is said that the rastaman attacked. The small crowd that had gathered are said to have witnessed as the Rasta bit the man's tongue and spat out a piece on the ground.

Up to press time, the taxi man was hospitalised at the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital.

Checks with Corporal Peter Salkey, Constabulary Communication Network officer for Westmoreland, revealed that he was unaware of the incident.

Efforts to contact the Negril Police Station, which is a mere stone's throw away from the scene of the fight, proved futile as the three listed telephone numbers for the station went unanswered.