An Arab man was documented Thursday during an attempt to escape from police as he drove on the sidewalk and almost trampled the pedestrians who were walking there.
A sapper, a police officer and a traffic patrolman who had been chasing him are seen in the video as they shoot five bullets at the fleeing criminal to try to stop him.
According to police, the motorist drove illegally along the shoulder of the east-west Highway 5 just north of Tel Aviv—to bypass the heavy traffic—and suddenly ran into a police sapper who was on his way to work and ordered him to stop his car. When the man refused and continued driving, the police sapper began to chase him, all the way to the Coca-Cola junction at the entrance to the city of Bnei Brak.
The fleeing driver turned into the Haredi city in an attempt to escape, but was eventually spotted and caught by police.
According to official sources, the rate of involvement of the Arab population in Israel in road accidents far exceeds their representation in the population, both in the degree of involvement and in the severity of the damage. Young Arab drivers are twice as likely to be involved in serious road accidents as compared to the total population. (Source: Yedioth Aharonoth)