19-year-old injured as he tried to run over a policeman

Motorcyclist shot in leg by cops after refusing to halt; police suspect youth was earlier involved in botched Holon shooting

In another incident of spiraling street violence in Israel, a 19-year-old motorcyclist was lightly to moderately injured overnight Friday in Holon, apparently after attempting to run over a police officer.

Police said that they had been called to the area to investigate a separate incident, but after hearing shooting noises in the night, they suspected a shooting incident had occurred. They tracked down a motorcycle with two riders suspected of involvement in the incident and asked them to stop.

However, the two refused to halt the vehicle and instead attempted to run a policeman over. The police then shot at the riders, hitting one of them in the leg.

Magen David Adom paramedics arrived at the scene and gave the injured youth preliminary treatment before evacuating him to Holon’s Wolfson Medical Center. The other rider escaped uninjured.

Meanwhile on Friday, Police chief Insp. Gen. Yohanan Danino conducted a tour of nightclubs in Tel Aviv to assess the security situation there, as well as the ability of the police force to prevent outbreaks of violence. Earlier this week, Danino promised to restore the public’s sense of safety by sending more officers to patrol the streets.

The rising tide of violence in Israel has led Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to promote a bill which would allow police to search individuals who have not been accused of a crime.

On Thursday, a teenager accused of stabbing a man to death in a Beersheba park was indicted for murder.