Woman details Sunshine Coast road rage incident captured on dashcam

A Sunshine Coast woman who was filmed having her legs crushed by a ute has detailed the moment of trauma and revealed how devastating becoming an “internet meme” has been on her mental health.

A woman who had her legs crushed in a road rage incident on a busy Sunshine Coast intersection has detailed the moment of trauma captured on video and the toll of becoming an internet sensation.

Tia-Loketi Harvey was driving with her nine-year-old son and her 15-year-old cousin on Yandina Coolum Rd, in Coolum Beach, about 5.30pm on December 22.

She had slowed, in the right lane near the lights at the Coolum Beach Primary School, to allow a ute and trailer to pull into the right lane.

The road merges to one lane near a roundabout on the intersection of Yandina Coolum Rd and South Coolum Rd.

Ms Harvey claimed a driver in a ute pulled in sharply behind her as she slowed to let the other vehicle onto the lane.

Tia-Loketi Harvey has detailed the moment her legs were crushed in a road rage incident on the Sunshine Coast on December 22.

“He started high-beaming me and gesturing out the window,” she said.

Ms Harvey said she pulled over near the roundabout and the other driver got out of his ute.

“He’s walked straight up to me, grabbed me by my two shoulders and flinged me,” she said.

The 26-year-old said she retaliated by grabbing air fresheners out of her car and throwing them at his car, which was filmed by a passer-by.

The other driver went back to his car and Ms Harvey returned to her car.

“I’ve just seen the light come towards me, and all of a sudden I was up against my door, my back was arching, the lights were coming at me and all I heard was the crunches of bones breaking,” she said.

1Tia-Loketi Harvey at her mother’s home in Kallangur. Photo: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

The video, which has had more than 257,000 plays on one Instagram account alone, shows Ms Harvey’s legs being crushed by the ute.

“When he ran me over, he got out of his car,” the mum-of-one said.

“He kept abusing me, blood was squirting out and I could see my bone.”

Ms Harvey was taken by ambulance to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital and had surgery the next day.

Tia-Loketi Harvey with her son in hospital following a road rage incident in Coolum Beach on December 22.

She spent the festive season recovering in SCUH and the Nambour Hospital before she was discharged on January 8.

The Coolum Beach woman remains in a wheelchair and has been forced to move back in with her mum in Kallangur, north of Brisbane, while she recovers.

“You really take your legs for granted,” Ms Harvey said.

“Just going to the toilet or getting up during the night to get a drink is challenging.”

Her son is being cared for by her aunt and uncle because he attends a Sunshine Coast school.

“I have to learn how to walk again,” Ms Harvey said.

The mum said she would miss out on a job opportunity in Sydney due to her injuries and the mental health recovery was complicated by the viral video.

Ms Harvey said she has to learn how to walk again. Photo: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

“I had someone messaging me saying ‘they’re making memes out of you’,” Ms Harvey said.

“That’s one thing I’ve never done is go on the internet and shame people.

“There’s the physical recovery, but I’m getting over being in that video too.”

She said people made assumptions about her online because of her face and other tattoos.

“I have no criminal convictions,” Ms Harvey said.

A Queensland Police Service spokeswoman said an investigation continued and anyone with information should come forward.

The police spokeswoman said no charges had been laid in relation to the incident.