an indictment with the Lod District Court against 23-yearold Yaniv Feirovskine,
alleging that he hit two female runners with his all-terrain vehicle before
fleeing the scene in late August near Kibbutz Givat Brenner.
The
indictment states that Feirovskine was driving a Yamaha tractor at high speeds
near the runner on the day of the incident, August 31.
At first, said the
indictment, the accused simply passed the runners. However, the accused
then turned around, ignored the runners’ pleas to stop and ran down two of the
runners, causing serious physical harm, the indictment alleges.
Next, the
accused fled the scene, leaving the runners behind despite their being seriously
injured and in need of medical attention, said the indictment.
After
that, the indictment states, the accused went home and washed off the tractor in
an attempt to erase any evidence of the incident, in case police came to check
his vehicle.
On that basis, the indictment also alleges a count for
obstructing the investigation.
Only three days ago, a Petah Tikva
Magistrate’s Court had upheld the accused’s remand pending completion of the
investigation, and largely on the basis of a confession and reenactment of the
incident.
Police said the confession had been obtained without any
irregularities, although the suspect’s lawyer claimed it had been obtained under
duress and through improper promises.
Feirovskine, of Moshav Ganei
Yohanan near Rehovot, was arrested nearly two weeks ago.
He originally
denied having hit the runners.
At his remand hearing, Feirovskine’s
attorney claimed that police had said they would guarantee his client a sentence
of 250 hours of community service at worst, and that he could be home for Rosh
Hashana if he confessed.
The police insisted that all they had promised
was that telling the truth would clear his conscience.
One reason for the
discrepancy is that while almost all police interaction with Feirovskine was
taped, one preinterrogation conversation was not.
This is not uncommon,
and defense attorneys often seek to latch onto potential holes in a case and
argue that they indicate a cover-up regarding what was said to the
suspect.
Feirovskine’s lawyers will get another chance to cast doubts on
his confession if the case goes to trial, but at the earlier remand stage, the
judge did not accept Feirovskine’s claim that he had been coerced or lied
to.
The alleged hit-and-run incident took place while 15 runners trained
on a dirt path next to Givat Brenner’s fields. Two of them, including Olympic
hopeful Radat Baltah, were injured.
Some of the runners confirmed the
version of events alleged in the indictment, and said the ATV driver had sped by
them, kicking up a large cloud of dust. They said that after they
signaled for him to slow down he turned around and drove back, intentionally
slamming into the two runners before driving off.
A manhunt was launched
shortly thereafter.