The off-duty police officer accused of recklessly manslaughter in the death of Solomon Tekah in 2019 by firing warning shots at the ground instead of into the air is found not guilty by the Haifa Magistrate’s Court.
Tekah, a 19-year-old from Israel’s Ethiopian community, sustained injuries from a bullet fired by the officer into the ground when it ricocheted into him during a violent incident in Haifa.
Tekah’s death led to renewed accusations of police violence and discrimination against the Ethiopian Israeli community and severe riots around the country.
The Haifa Magistrate’s Court judge finds that forensic tests proved that Tekah had been one of several youths who threw rocks at the police officer, and that the cop had been hit by some of those rocks, including on the back of the neck which a medical expert told the court represented a threat to the officer’s life. The officer’s name has been barred from publication by court order.
The judge says that the police officer’s account of events was accurate and backed by the evidence, and that he had acted in self-defense.
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