Via Tobi’s GoFundMe
A Gardaí investigation and a huge fundraising drive are underway in Limerick following a road rage episode which has left a well-known local hip-hop artist with serious injuries.
Almost €50,000 has already been raised to support a Limerick dancer in his recovery after a small roadside exchange prompted an attack, which has left him with life-changing injuries.
Tobi Omoteso is a Limerick breaker and hip-hop dancer, known across Ireland for bridging communities through music and dance.
On his way to setting up for the Top 8 Street Dance & Hip-hop Fest in Limerick on Saturday, following a brief exchange, a man tailed the dancer’s car, eventually blocking Ometeso in.
Speaking to Live95 News, he explained he was driving out of his estate, and a man was parked at the exit, causing traffic.
He continued, explaining that “traffic was building up” and people were beeping and giving the man gestures, including himself, who reciprocated a ‘middle-finger’ given to him by the driver of the other car.
The man proceeded to bash in his car windows, sending shards of glass across the car, including into his eyes.
Speaking to Live95 News, Tobi explained he is now facing multiple emergency operations:
“I’m battling about three to four operations to at least try to save the eye and get the eye some sort of working, but it is permanently damaged now”.
Omoteso has been in both St. John’s Hospital and University Hospital Limerick, and has commended the staff for their care while he has been there.
“The guys here are honestly absolutely fantastic”, he said, “so kudos to the staff here”.
The Limerick hip-hop dancer says he didn’t realise the man was tailing him after he left the estate until he got to the TUS Moylish Campus roundabout.
“Like a couple of minutes after I left my estate, he just came in, swerved in like a swat, you know? Got out of this car. There was another guy as well with him who also wanted to attempt to get out of the car”.
He said, “this guy already had a bat in his hand, like he knew what he was going to do”.
The man proceeded to smash Tobi’s car with the bat, sending shards of glass into his body.
“All the glass and everything caught my hands, caught my face, and obviously entered my eye and permanently damaged my eye”.
Omoteso has garnered massive support online, both in response to his posts and through donations on his GoFundMe, which has been set up to cover a long list of medical bills.
On his GoFundMe, Tobi says he now faces a “long, agonising road of surgeries just to cling to a fraction of the vision” he “once took for granted”.
He explains his iris was sliced in half and had to be meticulously stitched back together. He is also now battling an onset of cataract and a ruptured lens capsule.
Tobi says he will never see the world clearly again, which ultimately affects his job, work, dance, social interaction and confidence.
Despite the traumatic experience, Omoteso is keeping a positive mindset and is looking towards a fundraising event with his restaurant in the near future.
“I’m all about celebration, innit? So just to keep celebrating life. And the fact that I’m alive is a testament, you know? Because, yeah, this guy could do that to anybody. Literally anybody, which is the scary part of it,” he finished.