A Jerusalem resident took control of a bus that stopped at the station with passengers who became "hostages" for many minutes. Upon completion of the police investigation, an indictment was filed against him by the Jerusalem Prosecution Unit. The case joins another recent incident involving an assault on a bus driver with a cooking pot.
Documentation: Took control of a bus in Jerusalem and used violence against passengers // Use according to section 27A of the Copyright Law
Jerusalem District investigators have recently completed the interrogation of a 50-year-old Jerusalem resident involved in an incident of violence against an employee of a business in the city center, and a day later – the takeover of a public bus with several passengers on board. The defendant was indicted in court earlier this week by the county's police prosecution unit. This indictment joins another indictment filed against a Mevaseret Zion resident who attacked a bus driver in Jerusalem with a cooking pot.
Assault, threats, and causing actual injury
The police investigation revealed that in early December, Moriah Station officers and the Jerusalem District Municipal Policing Unit were called to the intersection of Keren Hayesod and Ahad Ha'am streets, following a report received about a man who took over a bus and attacked people there.
The police forces who arrived at the scene noticed the defendant still sitting in the driver's seat, made his arrest and began to investigate the circumstances of the case. According to the investigation, the defendant began to fight with one of the passengers, causing the driver to stop the bus on the side of the road.
Attack on bus driver in Jerusalem, photo: None
At this point, according to the passengers' testimonies, the defendant sat in the driver's seat and closed the glass partition on himself. Passengers who tried to dissuade the defendant from his actions were attacked by him with kicks and punches, causing them minor injuries, until the police arrived at the scene and carried out his arrest.
The defendant, who was taken for medical examination, was involved in another violent incident in the city center the very next day. In the evening, the defendant, apparently under the influence of alcohol, arrived at a women's clothing store. Among other things, the defendant wanted to measure the personal hat of the seller, a man in his 70s. Due to the seller's refusal, the defendant began to violently attack him, drawing his neck in front of the customers. When the elderly victim managed to slip away and escape into the yard, the defendant continued to threaten his life.
As part of the investigation of the cases, the defendant was arrested and brought before the court to extend his detention in order to exhaust the necessary investigative activities. After his investigation was completed, the police prosecution unit filed an indictment against him for offenses of assault, threats, assault causing actual injury and conduct liable to disturb public order.
Assault on a public official
This indictment, as stated, joins another indictment recently filed against a Mevaseret Zion resident in his 50s for a serious incident of violence against a public bus driver in Jerusalem. The investigation of the case revealed that in the evening of December, the defendant traveled on a public bus that came from the center of the country to the capital. At one point, the defendant asked to get off the bus at the center of the Yirmiyahu junction in the city, and after the driver refused to comply with his dangerous and forbidden demand, the defendant slammed a bag he was holding in his hand towards the driver's face.
Documentation: Passenger hits bus driver in Jerusalem with pot
At this point, the driver tried to move the defendant away from his surroundings using the protective partition, but the defendant did not stop his actions, took a cooking pot that he had located on the bus and punched it in the driver's face. As a result, the bus driver sustained bleeding bruises to his face.
Despite this, the bus driver continued driving until the drop-off platforms at the entrance to the central bus station in Jerusalem, where the suspect was detained by security guards until the arrival of the police, who carried out his arrest, while the driver was evacuated for medical treatment with bleeding bruises to his face.
During interrogation, the defendant denied the allegation and claimed that it was he who was attacked by the driver, despite the security camera video installed on the bus that was shown to him. After his interrogation was completed, an indictment was filed against him for assaulting a public official in order to obstruct him from duty while armed with cold weapons, along with a request to order his detention until the end of the proceedings.
Deputy Commissioner Lior Ben-Shalom, Deputy Commissioner of the Investigations and Intelligence Division of the Lev HaBireh Station in the Jerusalem District, said: "Every incident of violence is serious and is handled by the Israel Police and the Jerusalem District, professionally and determinedly, in order to reach the truth and in due course, to file an indictment of the case against the defendants in court."
"In these cases for which indictments were recently filed by the police prosecution unit in Jerusalem, violence against public transportation drivers and civilians through no fault of their own," he added. "These investigations were conducted by the best police investigators at the Lev HaCapital Zion police station, during which a sufficient evidentiary basis was formulated for these indictments. It is important to note that for a long time we have been working extensively and will continue to act in this manner at the time to eradicate such unacceptable phenomena of violence in general, and of those directed at public transportation drivers, in particular."
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