2 police indicted for beating innocent bystander
Patrolman suspected of fracturing civilian’s jaw, while commanding officer pepper-sprayed him
Adiv Sterman is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Two police officers were indicted Sunday for alleged offenses that include causing serious injury, obstruction of justice, and breach of trust, after a police investigation found that they had beaten an innocent civilian while investigating a robbery in 2011.
According to internal affairs investigators, Oren Manisovic and Gil Shilan, both police patrolmen in the Yarkon District, arrived at the scene of a suspected air-conditioner unit robbery on Tel Aviv’s Allenby Street, when they spotted a man whom they believed had been involved in the theft.
The two police ordered the innocent civilian, 18-year-old Fouwaz Ali, to show his identity card.
Although Ali complied with the request, Manisovic proceeded to punch him in the face, and led him to a nearby alleyway. The officer then continued to deal heavy blows to the bystander’s upper body, one of which ended up fracturing his jaw.
Shilan, the patrol commander, followed Manisovic into the alleyway and, although he asked Manisovic why he had beaten Ali, he did not call for medical assistance or help the wounded civilian. Shilan went on to squirt pepper spray in Ali’s face; Ali, at that point, lay sprawled on the ground. He then threw the identity card at Ali and mockingly told him to “keep safe.”
Both police officers left the scene a short while later without notifying authorities of Ali’s condition or filing a report.
Shilan and Manisovic will be tried in the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court.
