Hit-and-run drivers kill two; pupil run over by school bus

By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
A young woman was left to die in the street by a hit-and-run driver Monday, less than a day after a six-year-old boy died of injuries sustained after being hit by a vehicle on Thursday in another hit-and-run incident. In a third incident, a Holon second-grader was struck and killed by his own school bus Monday afternoon. Anat Asher, 23, of Kfar Saba was struck by the vehicle near the gas station at the North Ra'anana Junction early Monday afternoon. As rescue teams tried to resuscitate Asher, who passersby discovered lying in busy Rehov Weitzman, police set up checkpoints in a fruitless attempt to apprehend the motorist who ran her over. Israel Police Traffic Division chief Asst.-Cmdr. Meir Or said that the young woman had been riding a motorcycle seconds before the incident. Police, he said, were trying to reconstruct events that led to Asher's death. He said that they had not ruled out the possibility that she had first fallen from her motorcycle, and then been run over by a vehicle. "Everyone saw her on the ground, but nobody saw the impact," Or said, adding that it was clear from Asher's injuries that a vehicle other than her own motorcycle had run her over. Or requesting the help of the public, calling on any eyewitnesses to contact investigators to help locating the driver. "We have evidence, findings, and theories, but we want all the help that we can get from the public in catching the driver." A few hours later, Rahamim Elkayam Yazidi, 7, was fatally injured after being struck by his own school bus at the intersection of Rehov Hahistadrut and Rehov Geulim in Holon. According to the initial police investigation, Yazidi was returning home from school in the bus. Immediately before the intersection, the bus stopped, and a number of children - including Yazidi - got off as the bus waited for the light to change. When the light changed, the boy started to cross the street, in accordance with the traffic signals. But the bus made a right turn without yielding to the youngster in the crosswalk, and struck him.