Policeman Natan Yossipov, hurt in Nazareth hit-and-run, dies

Sergeant First Class Natan Yossipov, a police officer who was critically injured in a hit-and-run in Nazareth on February 28, died Friday morning of his wounds at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, the Israel Police said.

A statement from the police offered condolences and “strength to the family at this difficult time.”

Yossipov will be buried at the Migdal Haemek cemetery at 2 p.m. Friday.

The 49-year-old officer was run over by Nazareth resident George Garib, 20, after he attempted to stop Garib’s vehicle for a spot check.

Garib was driving his mother’s vehicle, which he was not insured to drive.

According to an indictment filed against the younger man in early March at the Nazareth District Court, Yossipov had begun a regular afternoon shift on February 28, and at 7 p.m. set up a roadblock on Tawfiq Ziad Street to carry out spot checks on passing vehicles.

Yossipov spotted a Mazda 3 car approaching, and indicated with his flashlight for the driver to pull over at the side of the road.

The indictment claimed that although the driver saw the officer’s signals, he did not stop and instead swerved towards the policeman, running him over before driving off at breakneck speed.

“This is a serious incident in which a police officer was attacked with a vehicle in the line of duty and left bleeding and without any assistance offered,” the police said.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, police launched a widespread search to find the vehicle, including the deployment of roadblocks and a helicopter in order to cut off any possible escape routes. Police were initially unsure if the incident was a terrorist car-ramming or a genuine road accident.

The police said that an hour after the incident, Garib turned himself in at a Nazareth police station, accompanied by his father, and was permitted to meet with an attorney before being questioned.

Garib admitted that he had taken his mother’s car without her knowledge, despite not being covered by her insurance policy. Later that night, he and police officers returned to the scene in order to reenact events for investigators.

Police originally suspected the incident may have been a terror attack, as it shared some characteristics with the car-rammings of recent months.

Garib was released on bail the day after the incident. It is not immediately clear if his charges will be changed following Yossipov’s death.