Hit-and-run that left cop badly hurt was accident, police say

A police officer seriously injured in a hit-and-run on Sunday was not a victim of terror, police announced Monday morning, ruling out the incident as a terrorist ramming-attack.

The officer was hit by a car traveling above the speed limit outside the northern Arab-Israeli town of Nazareth. He had signaled to a car to stop just before the driver rammed into him, police said.

While the suspect originally fled the scene in the vehicle, he turned himself in to a local police station hours after the incident. Police detained him overnight and was set to request he be remanded Monday.

The officer who was hit was taken to Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center in serious condition, according to Israel Police spokesperson Luba Samri. He remained unconscious Monday morning, according to doctors.

Police originally suspected the incident may have been a terror attack, as it shared some characteristics with vehicular-rammings that have taken place in recent months.

Twenty-nine Israelis and three non-Israelis have been killed in a wave of Palestinian terrorism and violence since October. Over 170 Palestinians have also been killed, some two-thirds of them while attacking Israelis, and the rest in clashes with troops, according to the Israeli army.