13-year-old killed by suspected drunk driver in northern Tel Aviv

A 13-year-old boy was killed when he was hit by a suspected drunk driver while standing on a sidewalk in Tel Aviv.

The boy was hit on Friday, but police only named him as Eylon Shalev-Amsalem on Saturday after his parents returned to Israel, from a trip to Thailand from which the teen had asked if he could stay behind to spend summer vacation with friends.

He and another friend had been waiting to cross the street at the intersection of Ibn Gabirol and Shai Agnon in northern Tel Aviv when a driver traveling at a high-speed lost control of his vehicle, mounted the sidewalk and plowed into the two boys.

Amsalem was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, and doctors were forced to declare him dead two hours after his arrival. The second teen suffered moderate injuries to his upper body and is currently recovering in Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital.

Police at the scene of the accident had driver Eli Bar Zakai take a breathalyzer test, which found that the 23-year-old Jerusalem resident was under the influence of alcohol.

The test marked his blood alcohol level at 600 micrograms per liter, more than ten times the amount allowed for a driver under the age of 24.

Since the test that was performed is often not enough to hold up in court, police asked to perform an additional more accurate blood test, but Bar Zakai refused. According to Israeli law, such refusal means that the suspect is considered to legally have been drunk.

Bar Zakai’s lawyer denied he was drunk and said he lost control of the vehicle because a water pipe had burst in the road.

While he was subsequently arrested and charged with manslaughter, a Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court judge on Friday released Bar Zakai to house arrest after concluding that he did not pose a threat to the public.

However, a stay on his release was placed until Sunday when an additional hearing will be held following an appeal by police against the judge’s initial decision.