An Israeli volunteer police officer was killed shortly after dawn on Saturday morning and two others were injured when they were rammed by a car that broke through a police sobriety checkpoint.
The suspects had already fled the scene after Israel Police spotted their vehicle crashing into a taxi in Rishon Lezion late Friday night, and then fleeing the scene.
Forty-six year old Amichai Carmeli, a 15-year veteran of the volunteer force, was killed instantly. Two other volunteer police officers were taken to Shamir Medical Center in fair and serious condition.
Carmeli is survived by his wife, his father, and two children.
“Israeli police officers, including the men and women who devote their free time to this, devote their bodies day and night to perpetrators of crime and to civilians,” Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev said following the incident. “This morning we received a painful example of this. I share in the great sorrow of the family of the late Amichai.”
It is believed the suspects may have been drunk and initially fled to evade arrest for driving under the influence.
They headed from Rishon Lezion towards the Beit Dagan junction, and eventually reached a sobriety checkpoint outside the city on Route 412, adjacent to the Beit Dagan junction.
But instead of stopping when they reached the checkpoint, the suspects rammed into three Israeli traffic police who were at the scene.
All five suspects, from the southern Israeli Bedouin city of Rahat, were arrested on suspicion of murder with a ramming attack.
The case is under investigation by Central District Traffic Examiners. Meanwhile, the suspects were arraigned at the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court, where police requested an extension of their remand.
The case is also being investigated by the Special Unit for Combating Crime in the Judean Foothills.
