Mac TA track star killed in traffic accident [pg. 9]

By RUTH EGLASH
The manager of the Maccabi Tel Aviv athletic club said he was still in shock Thursday following a traffic accident that tragically killed one of his top athletes and her six-year-old son. "She was one of the best athletes we had," Levy Sapkin, who is also the vice president of the Israeli Athletic Association, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. "She had just begun retraining for a competition." The accident took place on Tuesday as track-runner Yevgenia Vexler, 23, and her son, Arthur, were stopped at a red light at the intersection of Rehov Einstein and Derech Namir in North Tel Aviv. An SUV, driven by well-known attorney Avigdor "Dori" Klagsbald, slammed into their car killing the two almost instantly. Sapkin said he was very surprised that no one from Klagsbald's family had called the Vexler family to offer condolences. Klagsbald, who has represented Ariel Sharon, Shaul Mofaz and Ofer Nimrodi in court, sustained only minor injuries. "She was a wonderful woman who was well-liked. She never said a bad word about anyone," said Sapkin "What hurts the most is that [Klagsbald] has destroyed a family and cannot even call. We find it very weird." Vexler, who competed in the 800 meters for the team, moved to Israel six years ago from the Ukraine. She was not Jewish and will be buried next week in her hometown in the Ukraine. Her husband, also a new immigrant, is Jewish. He worked in the Czech Republic and did not live with the family in Tel Aviv. "Life was very difficult for her, she was here on her own," said Sapkin. Tel Aviv police are still trying to determine what caused the crash.