Police investigators appeal acquittal of officer in killing of Ethiopian-Israeli teen

The Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) files an appeal to the Haifa District Court against a lower court ruling that found an off-duty police officer not guilty of reckless manslaughter over the death of 18-year old Solomon Tekah in 2019.

Teka’s death sparked outrage in the Ethiopian community, which has long complained of over-policing, but the Haifa Magistrate’s Court acquitted the police officer on the grounds that his life and that of his family had been at risk when Teka and other youths attacked them, and that the warning shot he fired was a reasonable decision despite it ultimately killing Teka.

DIPI argues in its appeal that the police officer’s life had not been in immediate and actual danger, and that his warning shot had therefore not been warranted.

The department also contends that even though the police officer had been in a certain amount of danger due to the fact that Teka and the group of youths were throwing rocks at him, he should have fired in the air in accordance with police protocols and not at the ground.

Fragments of the bullet that the officer fired at the ground next to Teka ricocheted back up at the youth and ultimately killed him.

“The warning shot done by the police officer at the asphalt, which is a firm surface which would not absorb a bullet, close to the feet of the deceased, Solomon Teka, and the youths, was done in violation of regulations and therefore was negligent and caused the death of the deceased, Solomon Teka,” DIPI says in a statement to the press.