Ex-minister's son 'admitted drinking before crash'

Hirschson was driving a motorcycle with his girlfriend when he crashed, critically injuring her; released to house arrest.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Police in Hod Hasharon 311 (photo credit: Zaka / Anshil Za'ak)
Police in Hod Hasharon 311
(photo credit: Zaka / Anshil Za'ak)
Police indicted the son of a former finance minister on Thursday with driving a motorcycle under the influence of alcohol and negligent conduct that led to a serious crash which injured his girlfriend.
Police prosecutors said at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court that Barak Hirschson, son of former finance minister Avraham Hirschson, “confessed during questioning to drinking alcohol an hour before the accident, and driving anyway.”
Hirschson, 28, has 22 prior traffic violations, police said, including a 2006 conviction for drunk driving.
According to the indictment, Hirschson’s blood-alcohol level at the time of the accident was 1.5 times higher than the legal limit.
Hirschson’s girlfriend was critically injured in the crash this week, suffering a head injury that led to brain damage and spinal fracutures. She remains hospitalized at the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
Judge Shmuel Melamed rejected the police’s request to keep the defendant in custody until the end of the trial, and sent Hirschson to house arrest.
Hirschson’s attorneys said he had never been involved in any criminal incident and described his prior traffic violations as minor.
Former minister Avraham Hirschson is serving a five-anda- half year prison sentence for theft of funds.