Court orders bus driver who ran over Haredi teen during protest released to house arrest

The Jerusalem District Court orders the release to house arrest of a bus driver who fatally ran over an ultra-Orthodox teenager and wounded several others in Jerusalem on Tuesday night.

Fakhri Khatib, 50, from East Jerusalem, will remain in custody until tomorrow in order to allow police to appeal the decision.

Khatib was dressed in garb normally reserved for security prisoners during the hearing, even though police have determined that the incident wasn’t security-related, Hebrew media reported, adding that a police representative explained that it was the only uniform available.

Yosef Eisenthal, 14, was killed and three other teens were injured at an intersection in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Romema when a bus rammed into Haredi protesters, as tens of thousands of people attended an anti-conscription demonstration on Tuesday night.

Police said that a preliminary investigation found that Khatib was attacked by rioters who were blocking the road before the deadly incident.

Hebrew media outlets reported that the driver had called the emergency police hotline to request help as protesters gathered around his bus, accosting him and preventing him from driving either forward or backward, which a video published by Channel 14 appeared to show.

Police initially sought to keep the driver in custody for 15 days, and said they sought to have him charged with aggravated murder, but later downgraded the charge to negligent homicide.

Sam Sokol contributed to this report.