21 year-old dies in Wadi Ara car crash; riot nearly starts

Man trying to escape police blocked bus's path causing it to overturn; police source: Youths who hurled rocks will be arrested.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
A lethal car crash occurred on Saturday in which a 21-year-old driver from the Arab town of Umm el-Fahm, who attempted to flee police, died after slamming his jeep into a bus.
The accident threatened to turn into a full-scale riot when several residents of Umm el-Fahm gathered around the accident scene and hurled rocks at emergency workers.
RELATED:Police use stun grenades to disperse Umm el-Fahm protest
A police source told The Jerusalem Post that police were due to make arrests of suspected rock throwers in the near future.
"I believe they will be arrested soon," the source said.
The incident began when Ahmad Jabril was spotted by traffic officers talking on a cell phone and driving without a seat belt on Route 65, near the village of Mushraifa on Saturday afternoon, police said.
A Traffic Police car pulled Jabril over, but as the policeman exited his vehicle and walked towards Jabril's jeep, the driver fled the scene at high speed, and attempted a u-turn a short distance later, resulting in a head-on collision with a bus carrying people who had returned from a day-trip to the North.
The bus flipped on its side and fell into a roadside ditch.
Jabril was instantly killed in the crash, and twenty bus passengers were lightly injured. They were taken to the Haemek Hospital in Afula, together with a policeman who suffered a facial injury during clashes with the youths from Umm el-Fahm.
Police refused to confirm reports on Saturday evening that a computer check revealed that Jabril's driver's license was invalid for the sports utility vehicle he was driving.
Umm el-Fahm was the scene of a riot last week when dozens of far-right activists held a demonstration calling for the banning of the Islamic Movement's Northern Branch. Ten youths were arrested for attacking police during the disturbances.


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