Court extends remand of ATV hit-and-run suspect

Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court issues ruling largely on basis of confession and reenactment of incident at Kibbutz Givat Brenner.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Hit-and-run suspect Yaniv Feirovskin 370 (photo credit: Courtesy Facebook Page)
Hit-and-run suspect Yaniv Feirovskin 370
(photo credit: Courtesy Facebook Page)
The Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court on Sunday extended for three additional days the remand of 23-year-old Yaniv Feirovskine, who is suspected of having hit two women runners with his all-terrain vehicle before fleeing the scene some two weeks ago near Kibbutz Givat Brenner.
The court issued its ruling 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 a week-and-a-half ago and could face charges of abandonment after causing grave bodily harm if indicted. He originally denied having hit the runners.
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 pre-interrogation 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 coverup regarding what was said to the suspect.
Feirovskine’s lawyers can try to cast doubts on his confession if the case goes to trial, but the judge at this stage did not accept his 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 said the ATV driver had sped by them, kicking up a large cloud of dust.
They said that after they signaled him to slow down he turned around and drove back, intentionally slamming into the two runners before driving off. A manhunt was launched shortly afterwards.
According to Israeli media reports, Feirovskine said Saturday that he did indeed turn back toward the runners but had not intended on striking them with his vehicle.
Ben Hartman and Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.