The Jerusalem District Court released the bus driver who fatally struck a haredi teenager during an anti-draft protest to three days of house arrest on Thursday.
The case has drawn national attention after Tuesday's haredi draft protest in Jerusalem.
At the end of the morning hearing, Judge Tamar Bar-Asher ordered the driver to be released after reviewing security footage from the scene, while police said they would seek a stay of execution to allow an appeal to the Supreme Court amid an ongoing police investigation into the crash.
During the hearing, the judge pressed a police representative to identify any investigative steps that could be obstructed if the driver were released, noting that not all 39 planned actions were susceptible to interference. She also rejected a claim that the driver admitted seeing that he had hit someone and continued, citing his statement that the road was clear before he started driving.
Bar-Asher said the investigation was at an early stage, yet the videos presented did not show the driver charging into the crowd, contradicting a police assertion, and her comments came as officials called for a thorough probe and reviewed options, including a possible Supreme Court appeal.
Court rules no basis to extend detention, lack of police presence at protest
The judge concluded there was no basis to extend the driver’s detention, writing that the incident ended tragically and terribly with the death of a14-year-old boy.
She described disturbances on Yirmiyahu Street on Tuesday evening, when protesters surrounded the bus, opened its doors, entered, and assaulted the driver, who called police for help. Nevertheless, according to the ruling, officers did not arrive before the incident ended.
The decision noted that no police presence was visible in the footage shown in court. At one point, youths clung to the bus while others blocked its path, after which the road appeared to clear, and the driver pulled away at a relatively fast speed, which he said was due to the earlier assault and fear of renewed attack.
Two youths clung to the moving bus, the ruling said. One, on the left side, fell and appeared lightly injured, while the deceased held onto the bus’s front and, after the vehicle traveled dozens of meters, was killed.
Bar-Asher wrote that police appear to have evidence supporting reasonable suspicion on the boundary between negligent homicide and reckless manslaughter. The central question, she said, is whether the driver could have seen the teen on the front of the bus, since foreseeability is key to negligent homicide.
She added that the evidence indicates the bus began moving after the way ahead opened and no one stood directly in front of it, making it hard to classify the suspected offense as demonstrating dangerousness that justifies continued detention. The practical implication of the judge’s remarks is that the driver may have believed the road was clear.
Police told the court that the bus had stopped with doors open and that youths attacked, cursed, and spat at the driver, who then reversed and later accelerated, hitting protesters, describing a complex event with numerous witnesses. The driver said protesters blocked him and that he sped up to escape because he felt threatened, while a witness said the bus eventually accelerated down the road, striking several protesters.
Video reviewed in court showed the bus standing as hundreds of protesters ran toward it, with trash bins ignited near the scene. After reversing and being pursued by protesters, the bus accelerated along the roadway, and a haredi protester was trapped beneath and killed.